


The Man in the Long Brown Coat

by ingenious221B



Series: Tenth Doctor & Piper Adventure [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angry Doctor (Doctor Who), Angst and Hurt/Comfort, BAMF Mickey Smith, Bad Wolf Rose Tyler, Canon Rewrite, Child Neglect, Dark Doctor (Doctor Who), Doctor/Companion Friendship, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Friendship, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hallucinations, Heartbreak, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kid Fic, Major character death - Freeform, Mystery, Please Don't Kill Me, Protective Doctor (Doctor Who), Season/Series 02, Sick Character, Torchwood One, UNIT
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-24
Updated: 2019-03-13
Packaged: 2019-07-16 13:49:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 40
Words: 94,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16087385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ingenious221B/pseuds/ingenious221B
Summary: Regenerate alone and losing her, the Doctor crashed on Earth and was found by a tenth year old Sam Piper who was home alone on Christmas Eve.The two lonely souls met and start their own adventure in time and space.





	1. A Mysterious Blue Box

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything except my OC
> 
> A/N: If you're reading this, a bit of warning! The story has a major favorite character death, which will change the course of the canon in the Doctor Who episode and also make you wanna murder me. This story also won't take the canon numbered episode, as I will mix them with Davies-Moffat Era episodes. This is also an original character companion story with no romance on it. Just some good old adventure friendship. 
> 
> Also! I did a rewrite for this episode because some of them doesn't make sense I guess. I hope I did good.
> 
> Enjoy!

Too late.

Seven letters, two words, and it's all adding up to the cruellest truth of his life. So many time he'd just barely there. He had squeaked by and saved the ones who mattered, but not now, because now he was just too late. He hated that word, too late. Not too late to save the entire species from dying out, not too late for saving the crown prince of Cola from being assassinated, and not even too late to save a certain Harkness naked trouble day in Paris, but too late to save the one he loves the most. Too late to save her.

Tears were still burning down her cheeks as he pulled away, the taste of honey, spice, time, and Rose was lingering on his tongue. The sweet amazing golden glow faded from her, and for just a moment, he was staring into the familiar warmth of hazel brown-hued eyes that would look at him with her warm tongue tied smiled.

No.

The warmth was an illusion; he saw what he wanted to see. Her eyes were wide and glassy, no longer bolstered by the Bad Wolf, her knees buckled, and the only thing that kept her from the unrelenting metal floor was his arm about her waist. He lifted her easily, cradling her gently against his chest as he returned to hi lovely time machine, feeling anger and guilt crashed through him.

He placed his burden down gently upon the cool grating of the console room floor, and took a long deep breath, before smoothing his palm over her eyes. It was easier to pretend she was simply asleep, wasting precious time-as the silly little apes tended to do with so much of their lives Something in him, disconnected, and unemotional, laughed at the necessity of the pretence. He moved to the console, slapping at the controls with well-honed instinct and an utter absence of thought, his mind was frozen, unable to grasp anything beyond the moment when he had realized that Rose's soft lips were cold and unmoving between his own.

She had burned, and it was all for him.

Instinct told him to run, and his mind was distant enough not to question. He took his fractured beauty of a time ship and vanished into the vortex, away from the memories and away from the many, varied, and hunting nightmares. He ran from the abomination, whom he would never be able to think of without the faint bile taste in the back of his throat.

He kept the console between him and the motionless girl, while his thoughts whirled through any variety of mundane tasks, anything and everything that he could be concentrate on, other than what would he do next. Thinking of next was too cruel for him, a world without her; a world without her laugh, her smile, her warm hands intertwined with him. A world where he wasn't quite ready to face, maybe he even shouldn't face at all.

Somehow coordinates were set, and the hip was in motion. He had nothing more to do, it was a rough landing but he did nothing to soften it, when he was knocked off his feet, he simply stood up again. Wrapping his knuckles around the rail at the console, thinking of repairs was a nice distraction, but it wouldn't work for long. He wouldn't be able to keep living in denial.

The time he stood there, staring at nothing seemed interminable. To anyone else, it might well have been-but he knew with dismal certainty. It had been six hours, twelve minutes, and forty-seven seconds since Rose Marion Tyler had died.

0o0

Sam Piper can't sleep. His head is ringing out of control, worse than the constant one he'd had since he could remember, anyway followed with stuffy nose; and worse of all, he can't breathe properly and he can felt himself having a slight fever. If this add up, there's a chance he would get a bad asthma attack and would be hospitalized which no one want that to happened, especially him. It wasn't as if he hadn't seen this coming, on Christmas he would always get sick because his body can't stand the cold winter wind, this would also apply to him when it's raining and he hates it. His childhood would always fill the smell of a rainy day or the fun snowy day because he would stay indoors and be miserable in his bed.

Of course that doesn't mean he can't get some food or a cup of tea from the kitchen, so he got out of his room and walked down the stairs going through the hallway and made his way to the kitchen while gave a little cough on the way. He didn't mind being a bit loud in the house, he was alone and there's no one there with him, his aunt and uncle were gone with his cousin to some tropical island, because they all hate the cold winter weather here and leave him here to guard the house, which was great for him yet also awful too. Then again, even if they were here, he would still need to take care of himself; the only difference was, there's no one would scowl at him.

Shuffling slightly down the stairs, he went straight to the kitchen and made himself a warm milk as he felt something brushing his head slightly. He flinched and looked around and saw there was no one and nothing there, he shook his head and thought it was probably cause by his fever and took a can of biscuit from the cupboard. Until he heard a weird wheezing sound from outside that made him stopped and looked at the kitchen window.

A blue telephone's box was saw from outside the window. It didn't stick out that much, in fact he wasn't sure what it was about that made him notice, but he notices that is something's that made the box is not an ordinary box. Probably it was the deep blue colour that has thrown it off, or perhaps it was the lamp on top that looked nearly new and not at all broken. But that's not what make him think it wasn't just ordinary box, it was the whispered in his head and a soft brushing that he was sure it was come from the box, that sounded sad and followed by a soft singing, although the message was clear.

_Help my thief._

The door suddenly flew open and tall man with a leather jacket, who looked in his early thirties popped his head out. He looked about six feet, given that he was a little over a head taller than his uncle who stood at about five foot six. The man looked around and suddenly fall to his feet as he could be seen groaned in pain. Sam didn't waste his time and ran out from the house with only his boots, and quickly opened the door and ran outside which he found the man already on the floor, passed out.

"Uh sir?" Sam poked the man.

The man only responded with a groaned, he looked fine but there's something Sam can't point out what, that is wrong with him. He looked around and there were no one was up at this hour, everyone was either sleeping or enjoying a nice quite night in the cold winter inside of their house.

"What should I do now?" Sam asked himself. An idea came popped out to his head which could be a terrible idea in this situation. "No way, I can't just bring him inside. That's how people got killed. I won't do it."

The cold air hit Sam's face as he tried to walked away. Dim streetlamps lit up the sidewalk, as he looked down at the man once again. A sense of guilt and sympathy build up through his mind, if leave the man behind than he could catch a cold or even worse. He silently groaned, knowing he made up his mind.

He shook his head, muttering, "You're an idiot, Sam Piper." Taking a step forward, he started to pull the man by the collar of his jacket, trying to move him.

In an event of some miracle strength, he managed to haul the man up and carried him inside the house and lay him gently down in the couch on the living room. Sam groaned as he stretched his arms, the man was heavier than he looked and he should know, his uncle was just a tad bit lighter than him. He should know, he used to haul him when he got into one of his 'mates' part at night and his aunt don't want to do nothing about it and just leave him on the floor of the house.

He quickly run upstairs to his bedroom and grabbed his blanket also pillow from his bed, and he ran back downstairs to make the man comfortable, at least maybe if he saw he was being treated well, he won't immediately have kidnapped him and sell him to some black market. Taking off his jacket slightly, he put the heavy blanket to his tall body, and tried his best to tucking him in and he could see the man groaned but not showing any sign of waking up soon. He stared at the man, taking in his features, he had brown hair that was sort of windswept up and out of his face, and sideburns down the side of his thin face.

Sam thought back at the whisper earlier, about helping his thief which was odd, was the man a burglar? Did he just let in a burglar inside his uncle and aunt house? If he woke up, will he just leave or would he rummage the house while leaving Sam's tied inside the toilet or the wardrobe? But there's something else, something about him felt that he wasn't human. That would be a bit daft, he can't be an alien. At that moment, the man gave a slight sigh, releasing a wisp of gold light. Sam gaped in amazement, as the golden particles slipped out the cark in the window.

"Okay, that's definitely not human thing to do," Sam said aloud as he glanced between the man and the window. He watched to see if anything else happened, but he just continued to lie there.

Checking the man for the last time for any peculiar signed that probably going to pop out from the man, he finally nodded and made his way outside the living room and tried to settled down for a sleep, as he let out a sniffle from the cold.

0o0

Time flew by, and before he knew it, it was morning and he felt worse. His head was pounding and he felt himself burning up. This probably the result of him going outside on the cold Christmas night without wearing any coat while also having a cold. He just wished it won't escalate to a full blown asthma, and with a strange man that was sleeping inside the living room, that would be the last thing he need from all of this mad day. There's also the little fact it would get him into a huge trouble, because not only he let a strange inside the house, he also got sick and bothering their holiday, that usually would be resulted of his aunt angry at him and that would be resulting of being yelled at, being grounded and locked inside his room all day, or given a huge task of chorus around the house.

Making his way downstairs, he made his way to the kitchen when a brass band wearing Santa masks caught his eyes from across the street while there's people outside watching them playing some Christmas song. He wasn't sure what captured his interest, maybe it was the way one of them seemed to be staring at him, or the almost robotic way their legs moved while their upper bodies preternaturally still, or maybe it was the fact that there were never a brass band that would go door to door neighbourhood and just stood there in front of the house that would watch the house as if it was targeting something.

Oh.

They after the man. They know about the weird alien-man in the living room.

The band stopped playing and all hell broke loose. All of a sudden, the trombone player blew fire out of his instrument, causing panic around him. Sam ran towards the window and peeked over the edge to see the three of the band members were staring right at his hiding spot, while the tube player made his way over the house.

"Oh this is bad." Sam muttered to himself. He ran and closed the curtains.

Sam had to get out of there and lock all the door and window to the house. The man might be safe in the living room, but that won't happen for so long, he might not know what he did, but he knows for sure that he's not the bad guy. Bad guy won't get attack with weapon he wondered aloud, he even thought about how maybe that's the reason he passed out at the first place. He needs to protect him, he determined to not let him be taken by them, even if it cost him a big trouble for this.


	2. A Deadly Santa Attack

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC's, which is Sam Piper. I take the name Piper from Billie Piper, because I have zero creativity what so ever.
> 
> A/N: Well, this takes an interesting turn. Of course we need to change everything for the sake of the plot but I do hope you guys enjoyed it. Also! I hope I did a good job on editing and trying to fit this new original character in this story, and don't mess up anything. 
> 
> Anyway! Enjoy.

Sam sprinted away from the kitchen, dodging the kitchen table and made his way to the living room. He looked the door away and make sure the man was safe, as he running through the front door and looked the door. Looking around, he might need a weapon but he remembers that the master bedroom was locked and that's where his uncle kept all his hunting gun. Then again, he can't use a gun, it was too heavy and he's not exactly sure how to aim right and it would be a bad idea if he would use it.

A moment later, the tuba player fired a blast at the house, shocking the house and he could have spotted the glass cracked followed by the door, he sighed in relieved that nothing happened towards the house. It might be some kind of a miracle that the front door was still intact even, but he knows that he needs some weapon to fight the weird Santa robot band; he walked towards the family room and saw they were getting closer.

Finally, out of options, Sam saw the pile of umbrella's, walking stick, and spotted a sturdy metal baseball bat. Grabbing the bat, he hung onto for self-defence. He waited for his pursuers outside, ready to make a stand. The boy waited, for a good solid ten minutes. He was met with a complete silence, cautious, he didn't let his down guard. Just as he was getting a bit fed up, the doorbell rang.

"Great! At least the bad guy has some manner." Sam muttered sarcastically. The ball rang again. Followed by knocking that quickly escalated to pounding on the door.

The boy flinched as his front door cracked, he wanted to scream and cry, but the inside of his mouth lacked any moisture. He breathed in and out but air wouldn't enter his lungs, starved for air, his heart raced at tremendous speeds as he gripped the baseball bat in his hand tighter that made his knuckle white. The door burst its hinges, revealing the silhouettes of three Santa robots in the opening. There's no way he could beat them all, but he need them not to captured the man and harm him in anyway; this was the bad guy and there must be a reason why they wanted the man and whatever those reason is, it's probably always not good. Sam glanced to his back, he need to distract the Santa robots from the living room long enough probably for the police get here or probably some robotic destroyer team here.

"Hey! Weird killer Santa robot," Sam called them. "If you want to know where he is, you'll have to get to me first." He backed away, heading for the kitchen. "Well, come on then. Come and get me!" He taunted.

The robots followed him, and when they shuffled into the kitchen to after him, Sam swung his bat in full force, flinging the front Santa sideways head first into the sink. Sam turned the faucet on full strength, hoping the Santa's were indeed mechanical. He noted the jerking of the robot as the water hit its circuits with a small amount of satisfaction while keeping his attention on the other two bots still advancing on him.

"One down," he informed them. The robots remained silent, but stopped suddenly as they turned their attention back to the hallway before making their way out there. Confused, Sam followed them at a distance, and saw them backed away and stood there in the front yard, and immediately disappeared in pillars of light.

"Remote control robot," a voice stated behind him. Sam spun around in surprise when he caught the sight of the man standing in the doorway, a weird blue pen held out threateningly. He paused and looked the boy as if just noticing he was there. "You're not hurt, are you?" he asked, as his eyes scanned him.

"No." Sam shook his head quickly and took another breath, urging his heart rate to slow. "Just shaken up." He frowned a little, his mind replaying everything that had happened. "You said remote control robot, but who's controlling it."

"Well you're interesting," the man observed. He looked at the front yard as he replied. "Pilot fish."

"What?" Sam asked.

"They're pilot fish," the man said darkly before he suddenly gasped, clutching his chest as he fell back in pain.

"Are you alright?" Sam asked in alarm.

"Does it look like I'm alright?" the man groaned, his voice strained. "Woke up too soon, still regenerating. I'm bursting with energy." He coughed, and a puff of golden energy escaped past his lips. "You see? The pilot fish could smell it a million miles away," he explained. "So they eliminate the defence, that's you and they carry me off. They could run their batteries on me for a couple of- Ow!" He cried in pain, grasping his chest as he stumbled forward, leaning against the boy for support as he squeezed his eyes shut.

"Wha-"

"My head!" the man groaned. "I'm having a neuron explosion. I need-" He gasped out, looking at him properly at the first time as the looked of his eyes changed to worried and fear. "I need you to get out of here, go to that blue box and don't-" He groaned out between gasp of pain. "If there's a pilot fish, then- How did I get here?" He asked suddenly. "And who are you?"

"Uh, I'm Sam and you crashed? With your talking blue telephone box," Sam replied. The man looked at him confused. "The box gave out a message to help you when you stumbled out from the box, hurt. I didn't want to help you at first, but then you're alone in the cold."

The man looked at him again, as if he did something wrong. He opened his mouth and he suddenly yelled in pain. "Argh!" He stumbled and fell down, grasping Sam's arm to prevent himself from falling face first. "Brain collapsing." He slides down the wall. "The pilot fish!" He gasped out again, pulling the boy in front of him and looking at them very seriously, through his pain-laced eyes. "The pilot fish," he groaned in pain, "That's something…something…" He continued to gasp in pain as he struggled to get his words out. "Something is coming."

0o0

Confuse, scared, and sick. All those feelings were mixed in one with Sam as he sat on the floor of the living room alone with the door to the backyard closed with the curtained and locked. He had dragged the weird mysterious man back to the couch and he noticed how now the man got worse with now his high fever that made him delirious and keep on whispering something and mumbling nonsense. There's one time he said something about Gallifrey, and Dalek, but it always followed with pained expression as his jaw clenched in anger. Then it followed with a particular word he can only understand and it wasn't even a word, it was a name, called Rose. But every time he whispered that name, there's a slight sobbed and followed with the word sorry.

What was he sorry for? Was this Rose his friend, or maybe his wife? Or maybe he come from Gallifrey, there's this big war and they got separated? Can the bad guy take his wife away from him? But why was he sorry? Did he felt guilty about it? Was the Dalek probably the thing that the man said something's coming? Thousands of questions roaming in his small developing brain, as he looked at the unconscious alien-man in his couch.

Still feeling a bit loopy from the inhaler he took after he take care of the man, he now sat down on the floor alone in the dark and feeling afraid. In a minute, the adrenaline and drugs effect wore off from his body as he started shaking in fear, he can feel tears ran down through his cheek as he tried to wipe it away furiously, and proceed to hugged himself with his knees against his chest, hugging it for comfort. Of course he was scared, he's only eleventh years old and he got into this big kind of trouble, he wasn't should be in this sort of situation at the first place. If he didn't help the man, he won't get into this big mess. But if he leaves him alone, the man would be alone in the snow and he would felt more guilt about that, he can't just leave him alone, he was hurt.

Sam sighed, he tried to turned on the television for probably watching would take his mind of the trouble but it didn't, so he leaves the telly to turned on some news program.

"Scientist in charge of Britain's mission to Mars have re-established contact with the Guinevere One space probe. They're expecting the first transmission from the planet's surface in the next few minutes," a reporter announced.

"Yes, we are. We're-we're back on schedule," a man identified as Doctor Llewellyn stuttered out. "We've received signal from Guinevere One. The Mars landing would seem to be an unqualified success."

"But is it true that you completely lost contact earlier tonight?" a man called out.

"Yes, we had a bit of a scare," Llewellyn admitted. "Guinevere seemed to fall of the scope but it-it was just a blip. Only disappeared for a few seconds. She is fine now, absolutely fine. We're getting the first pictures transmitted live any minute now. I'd better get back to it. Thanks." Llewellyn then left the stage, ignoring all other questions.

"Pilot fish," he thought out loud. The man mentioned something about pilot fish before, and all he can remember from school that pilot fish is just a small fish that harmless, little things that used to swim alongside other big fish. "Like sharks, big sharks," Sam murmured, a realization dawn at him as he looked at the news once more of a picture that should be Mars from the British satellite Guinevere One.

Sam stared at the fuzzy image curiously just as the newsreader on the TV said, "This image is being transmitted via mission control, coming live from the depths of space on Christmas Morning."

The screen cleared, and Sam gasped in horror as he backed away, taken aback. It was a red-eyed alien with a head like a goat's skull. It growled and gurgled at the screen, he felt a sudden chill run up his spine.

"That's not just rocks," Sam muttered as the image disappeared to go back to the newsreader.

"The face of an alien life form was transmitted live tonight on BBC1."

Sam paced through the living room, confused about what he should do. There's a huge alien above the earth and they're threatening them with some sort of language they don't understand and he has a huge feeling that this something to do with the man that is now currently unconscious in his living room.

He warned him that something was coming, something to do with the pilot fish and that lead to the alien rock ship above them. Sam moved back to the floor and turned back his attention to the newsreader in front of him. Probably there's a new information he could use to hide the man or a help-line he could call, although there's only a small chance that even exist.

"Despite claims of an alien hoax, it's been reported that NATO forces are on red alert." the reporter announced. "Speaking strictly of the record, government sources are calling this our longest night."

0o0

At UNIT Base, the new elected Prime Minister, Harriet Jones walked over Major Blake as he sat in a chair. "I don't suppose we've had a code 9?" she asked hopefully drawing his attention, "No sign of the Doctor?"

"Nothing yet, ma'am," the Major replied, before giving her a curious look, "You've met him, haven't you?"

Harried nodded.

"More like the stuff of legend," he murmured under his breath.

"He is at that," Harriet agreed with a small smile, "Failing him-" she met his gaze unwaveringly. "What about Torchwood?"

"I-" the Major hedged rather surprised.

"I know I'm not supposed to know about it, I realize that. Not even the United Nations knows," Harriet responded to his surprise, hoping to quite his doubts. "But if ever there was a need for Torchwood, it's now."

"I can't take responsibility."

"I can," Harriet rebutted, "See to it. Get them ready."

Major Blake gazed at her for a moment longer, finding if there was any doubt coming from the woman, before he nodded and rose from his chair, walking away to do as he'd been commanded by the Prime Minister.

"Prime Minister," Alex the secretary, came towards her at a quick clip.

Harriet turned to him. "Has it worked?"

Alex nodded, "Just about," he replied as he set his laptop down on a desk to show her, Llewellyn and Jacobs coming to them, watching the alien threat.

"People," Alex began to translate, "That could be cattle," he told them. "You belong to us. To the Sycorax, they seem to be called Sycorax, not Martians," he explained, before going bac to translating once more. "We own you. We now possess your land, your minerals, your precious stones. You will surrender or they will die. Sycorax strong. Sycorax mighty. Sycorax rock, as in the modern sense, they rock," he concluded.

"They will die?" Llewellyn muttered, "Not you will die, they will die? Who's they?"

Alex shook his head. "I don't know, but it is the right personal pronoun. It's they," he told them confidently.

"Send them a reply," Harriet commanded, "Tell them, this is a day of peace on planet Earth."

Alex nodded as he hastily took notes. "Tell them, we extend that peace to the Sycorax, and then tell them, this planet it armed and we do not surrender."

Sally Jacobs nodded as Alex finished noting down what Harriet had said, "Come on," she murmured and the three left Harriet alone.


	3. The World on Red Alert

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> People are being controlled, the world on red alert, humanity lost their hope.

Sam made a soft sound as his mind drifted groggily as he slowly came awake, blinking his eyes blearily, taking in the blankets he was resting his head against the couch. He blinked and felt his head was heavy and tired from the cold he was having right now, it was not helping a bit with the nervous and stress adding it to the picture. Last night, he tried a few helplines but they all were busy handling the situation and none of them were working. He then grabbed the telephone's book and skimmed through any emergency calls or helpline, but none were actually working as if Britain was in lockdown; there was a helpline called Torchwood but there's something buzzing in his mind that he shouldn't call them.

He groaned loudly as he tried to sat up, feeling the heavy weight from his head only to be interrupted by another dry cough, that made the headache felt worse. He had taken a few medications, and a horrible taste of tea, there's also another take on his inhaler when he felt his lungs were on fire, but it didn't help at all. Sam was feeling like he was on fire somehow, and wiggled out of the blankets that had wrapped himself like a burrito, he didn't feel any better, he felt a lot worse.

In a minute, he felt his stomach growled. He remembered he didn't eat properly last night, because if he eats a lot, his stomach would reject it and it would not be pretty. He didn't need throwing up in this situation but he needs to eat. So he got up from his spot and slowly made his way to the kitchen. Until suddenly, he heard a commotion sounded from outside, he thought for a moment that it was his uncle and aunt were home early and for a moment, he felt afraid and froze for a moment. But then it was the sound of Mrs. Jackson from next door, he frowned and getting to go check. He met with Mrs. Jackson who was following her husband outside with a confused and worried look in her face.

"Sandra?" Mr Johnson in front of her called to the woman questioningly, making her to turn to him.

"He won't listen. He's just walking. He won't stop walking!" Mrs. Jackson explained fretfully, "There's this sort of light thing. Jason? Stop it right now! Please, Jason, just stop!" she cried.

Sam grabbed his shoes and went outside and see there was a lot of people walking in the same state of Mr. Jackson. He followed them quietly, following the flow of seemingly hypnotized people, all of them seeming to headed on a nearby building, heading up.

On the other side, a woman chased after her children as they walked down the street. "Alan, come on, now stop this. It's not funny anymore!" she cried, "Come on Alan, come back inside the house. Katherine, Kathrine honey, listen to me," she tried to stop them without success. "You come back inside right now, and you Jonathan, you come back inside with mummy. You're scaring me now! Come on!" she turned to her husband again, "Alan, help me out here, please!"

Arriving in front of the building, he spotted the people only march inside and got up on the top of the building. Sam rushed up the stairs, and he saw all around him, others were doing much the same as they tried unsuccessfully to get any kind of response from their loved ones as they headed to the nearby building and stood there on the edge of the building, preparing themselves to jump as their family tried to stopped them in fear.

"Oh. Me. Star." Sam breathed.

Sam shook his head in frustration, before looking around. Hopeless despair broke over him as he saw the desperate attempts of people trying to pull their loved ones away from the roof edge, and tears welled in his eyes as he heard their hysterical cries. Slowly, he turned away as well, and running back to the house feeling helpless with the situation getting more and more complicated.

0o0

Harriet Jones was speaking onscreen as the other bustled and about, trying their best to take their love one way from the edge of the building. Sam who arrived at home, stood in front of the telly and saw the Prime Minister with her face plastered in fear and confident, trying her best to be calm as possible.

"But, ladies and gentlemen, this crisis is unique and I am afraid to say, it might to get much worse. I would ask you all to remain calm. But I have one request. Doctor, if you're out there, we need you. I don't know what to do. If you can hear me, Doctor, if anyone knows the Doctor, if anyone can find him, the situation has never been more desperate. Help us, Please, Doctor. Help us. God help us all."

"Doctor?" Sam muttered. He glanced back at the man. "Is that you? Your name is the Doctor, well that's not weird at all."

But as soon as the words left his mouth, the windows in the living room shattered as the whole building shook. Sam fall down to his bump and looked around on the mess, this is going to have a lot of cleaning involved and screaming. He sat up from where he'd been thrown over ad casting a brief look over him only to see that he was fine.

"What was that?" Sam asked as he moved towards the window.

Sam peered out and up towards the sky, his eyes wide as he gazes landed on the big powered ship with nasty pointy bits glided overhead, as big as Westminster.

"That must be the Big Fish," he muttered nervously as his gaze followed the ship for a moment loner as it cast a wide shadow flying below the sun blotting it out for an extended moment as it flew. "What am I gonna do now?"

_Come back home. Come back to me._

The boy looked up, startled in alarm. Where was that whispered coming from? He glanced around and saw nothing except the blue telephone box stood in the front yard, soft glow emanating from it lights. But would he really be safe inside the box, it was just a wood blue box, and it could be easily destroyed. Well, he now knows that the Doctor is an alien and maybe that the telephone's box was a spaceship, a quite small spaceship that shaped that disguise something ordinary like a police box; out of options, the boy prepared the alien and pulled him out from the couch.

_Come back to me._

Pulling themselves together in front of the blue box, he stood for a while and briefly put the Doctor down to stretch a bit and patted his jacket pocket for a key or probably a button to opened the door. Its faded blue paint looked like it seen better days, and the height of the box towered over his petite stature. He grabbed a key from the inside of his jacket and shoved the key to the keyhole as he looked up at the box, tilting his head to the sides as he took in its features as he turned the key that followed with a sound of a soft click, the signalled that he had opened the box. Before going inside, he glanced at the sign on the door before putting a hand on the handle. A warm hum tingled in the back of his mind, inviting him inside.

He bit his lip again before taking a deep breath and pulled the handle open.

0o0

Alex listened nervously as the Sycorax leader addressed the small party that had been transmitted onto the spaceship, in the strange alien of theirs, "You will surrender," he read the words that were being translated by the software, forming the words carefully on his tongue and not wanting to doom them by all the misreading even a single word. The pressure made a bead of sweat roll down his back. "Or I will release the final curse, and your people will jump."

Llewellyn pushed his way to the front of their small group, "If can speak-"

Blake grabbed his arm, "Mr. Llewellyn, you're a civilian."

"No," Llewellyn said pulling his arm from Blake's grasp. "I sent out the probe. I started it. I made contact with these people. This whole thing is my responsibility."

Llewellyn stepped forward as the Sycorax leader began to descend the stairs he was standing upon. "With respect, sir. The human race is taking its first step towards the stars, but we are like children compared to you. Children who need compassion. I beg of you now, show that compassion."

The leader of the Sycorax who'd been staring as if bored, whilst Llewellyn talked raised a glittering force-whip and with a powerful movement whipped it out at Llewellyn, it cracked around his neck. Llewellyn gave a cry of pain the whip glowed blue and in the next moment his flesh disintegrated, leaving what was left of his skeletal remains fell to the ground.

Blake took an angry step forward, glaring at the Sycorax leader heatedly. "That man was your prisoner! Even your species must have articles of war, forbidding-" He was cut off as the whip cam cracking through the air again and in the next moment, he was nothing more than a smouldering pile of bones next to what used to be Llewellyn.

Alex made to step forward, but Harriet placed a hand before stepping forward herself, her ID card in hand. "Harriet Jones," she identified herself, "Prime Minister."

The Sycorax leader spoke again.

"Yes. We know who you are," Alex read the translated text, "Surrender or they will die."

Harriet eyed the alien leader cautiously. "If I do surrender, how would do that better?" she asked as the Sycorax leader held his hand over a big red button and spoke curtly once again.

Alex swallowed as the translated text appeared once again. "Half is sold into slavery or one third dies, your choice."

Harriet closed her eyes, pained by the choice laid out before her, vehemently wishing praying for the Doctor to arrive, to save them like he'd done last time.

0o0

The door opened with a soft click and Sam hesitantly stepped inside as he was grabbing the man firmly and tried getting him inside the box. Sam was inundated with a soft warm coral light, and pleasant hum in his mind and immediately his head felt better and no longer he felt the ragging headache that was now placed with a soft humming of a song. He then slowly grabbed the man and pulled him inside and softly putting him down on the grating near the console. He finally fully stepped into the centre of the place, near the console, and blinked, once, twice to see the huge interior.

Around him stretched a cavernous chamber with a high, vaulted ceiling. The walls, burnished gold with corals design, seemed to shine with an inner light. He was standing on metal grating, and beneath it, he could see machinery, which glowed intermittently with a fine light. Atop this was what looked like some kind of control console, six-sided, with a glowing blue-green column rising up from its centre. Beneath the raised tier was more machinery, which seemed to have been disassembled and put back together over and over again.

The boy of course let out an audible gasp, whirling around to get a complete view of the interior, his eyes gleaming with joy and curiosity, "No way" he breathed, smiling from ear to ear. "It's… It's…. bigger on the inside. How is this possible?" he wondered. Sam rounded the console, staring up at the machinery in awe. A pain groan echoed the room and he looked up in alarm.

"That sounded not-human, but there's no one here. Wait, there's no one here. Where's all the pilots or whatever? They should be here, ushering me out or something." An indignant hum answered his question.

"Where's that coming from?" Sam spotted the floor was blinking on and off in bright flashes, trying to catch his attention. "What do you need me to do?" he asked but then He looked up and the lights merely flashed more insistently as it leads to one of the corridor. With the last glanced of the console, he walked towards the corridor and going inside of the time machine even further.


	4. Did You Miss Me?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything except my OC's, Mr. Sam Piper
> 
> A/N: I wanna say I am so sorry for hurting my sweet cinnamon bun son Sam like this.

Sam Piper was a bit surprised when the ship led him to the library, he now wondered how big this spaceship actually is, not only it's bigger on the inside but it must be humongous; especially when the ship owns a huge place of a library that stretched wide from sides to sides. Walking towards it, the ship led him more specifically to a large and heavy tome resting on a table with a spotlight over it. He grabbed the heavy book and sat down on the floor, looking at the title. For a few seconds, all he saw were circles and dots, with lines but shortly after, they shimmered into English words.

 _A History,_ the tittle now read.

"A history of what?" Sam wondered, opening it. He was somewhat surprised to learn that the book was referring to the history of Time Lords. "Time Lords? Is that what he is? A Time Lord? A bit pompous." A light flickered, signalling him to read along.

Glancing over the sections, he saw titles for Time Lord culture, language, reproduction, and evolution, among others. Under the evolution section, Sam saw a sub-section entitled regeneration, and he remembered the men told him about how he was still regenerating. He quickly flipped to the correct page and began scanning the paragraphs. The book was enlightening, to say the least. It went through the entire process of a Time Lord's regeneration, step by step, with simple language he managed to understand as it discussing the biological changes that took place, and what personality changes to expect, although the Time Lord, with few exceptions, retained their base ideals and characteristics.

The book also described the most common causes of regeneration, with those being old age, a grievous wound, or as a form of punishment for some infraction, although that last had only occurred a couple of times, the most recent being nearly eight centuries before the writing of the book. Sam was fascinated by the book, his mind was going through every words and remembering everything about it, but the next page drew his attention back to his current problem.

"Perils of Regeneration," Sam murmured. He eagerly proceeds to scanned the section for something related to 'neural implosions' or 'collapsing brains'.

Finally, he hit upon a likely candidate, a chapter about 'Neural Damage of Regeneration'. The word damage was a sort of point out for the boy, so he quickly scanned through the chapter for an information. Inside the chapter described how-due to a certain circumstance, such as excessive exposure to certain kinds of radiation or delay of regeneration-a malfunction in the clearance of free radicals from the Time Lord's brain could occur. These radicals then resulted in decaying of the neutral tissue.

Something click inside the boy brain. The whole free radicals were connected with the cause of an asthmatic problem in humans, and he is one of those humans. Now all he needed to do was to excess it. A few option come to his head, there's an idea to give his inhaler through him but he remembered that he forgot his inhaler back at home, the second one was a good old cup of tea that always work for him when his aunt forgot to buy his medicine. Laughing loudly, he closed the book and put it back to where it belongs and getting out from the library, only to pause for a moment of realization that he does not know where is the kitchen, or if the ship even has a kitchen. A line of light suddenly lit up on the floor, signalling him to follow it.

"Thank you." Sam looked up, not sure who to thanks or why was he saying thanks for.

0o0

Alex flinched as the Sycorax leader started speaking again, vice angry now as a bleeping noise sounded through the spaceship they were still trapped on.

"The noise. The bleeping," he read, "They say it's machinery. Foreign machinery. They're accusing us of hiding it. Conspiring. Bring it on board."

0o0

Sam rushed into the kitchen and quickly setting a pot of water and boil. Dashing to a cupboard, he grabbed the first jar of tea he saw and rapidly prepared the cup as he waited for the water. In a matter of minute, the sharp whistle of the kettle signalling the water has boiled and he snatched the pot in a hurried, nearly scalding himself in his haste as he pours it carefully inside the mug. Finish, he grabbed the mug to take straight towards the console room as he followed the line on the floor the ship provided for him. As soon as he was in the room, Sam carefully placed the cup of tea beside him as he kneeled down and tried to lifted him to a seated position, resting his head on the console before bringing the cup to his lips.

"Okay, this might work so drink up," Sam told him.

He spluttered but Sam managed to get a few swallows down him. Setting the mug aside, Sam saw he shuddered and another puff of energy escaped his lips. Sam felt momentarily thought, probably after that he would snapped his eyes open, but there's no more reaction after that. He sighed and carefully stood up, the effect probably took a few minutes for it finally kicking it completely so he might need to be here for a while.

But if he's going to be here for a while, he need his inhaler and it was currently at his room. He finally walked through the ram and towards the door, but as he opened the door someone grabbed him with a rough hand by the head. Trying to fight his captured and failing too, he at least tried to closed the door so whoever it was, wouldn't get inside the ship.

Looking up to, he now realizes that it was the alien from the television that has captured him. It dragged him over to the other human, and Sam suppressed the urge to trash and fight his way free, not wanting to provoke the Sycorax to violence and possibly bring them harm. Once they were near, the alien tossed Sam towards the group. A pair of arms caught him when he stumbled and almost fall.

"I've got you!" a familiar voice told him. He looked up and it was the prime minister. "It's alright. I've got you."

"Thanks."

"Oh child!" Harriet Jones called. She looked at him. "Is he with you, is the Doctor with you, boy?"

"I think so, but he's sick." Sam told her.

The Sycorax leader pointed angrily at Sam and spat out something in his guttural tongue that made him flinched and confused what the alien was talking about.

"The child. He has the clever blue box. Therefore, he speaks for your planet," Alex translated. He saw the boy looked scared in a second.

"But he can't" Harriet protested.

That didn't stop the leader to yanked him back in front of him despite the adults trying to stopped the others from taking him. The leader then pointed him with his staff, making him flinched in fear and said something again in his guttural tongue as the others are now paying attention at him.

"Speak," Alex told him. He looked at the boy with sympathy, as he can't do anything about it.

Sam stood in front of the Sycorax leader who looked at him, he felt scared and confused of what he's going to do about this. It was insane, he's not strong, or can suddenly blast laser from his eyes, what he was going to do stopping them, by talking. Inside his head click, he probably could talk and stalk time for the tea to kick in and healed the injured Doctor. Stepping slightly towards the Sycorax, he stood there trying to put on a brave face.

 _This won't end well,_ he thought. "Er, as one of the citizens of Earth, I address you lot," he began. "You have, with no provocation, invaded this planet. So I demand according to the law of the universe and behalf on the citizens of Earth, that you leave this place immediately," Sam tried. He had no idea what that meant, but it sounded official and threatening for him.

The entire ship was silent for a brief moment before the Sycorax burst into a grating laughter.

"You are very funny," Alex told him as he translated. He grew pale of what comes next. "And now, you're going to die."

"Leave him alone, he's just a child!" Harriet shouted. She was held back, starring in helpless horror as the leader lifted his whip.

It was crackling with energy. He was going to kill the boy. Sam in instinct held up his arm and tried to protect himself. The leader strikes him, but only managed to hit near enough to scratch his left side, the boy held his left arm and saw his shirt were torn and he could see a fresh red line of scratch in his left arm that sting. It was an obvious statement of warning from the leader. Laughing, the Sycorax leader walked up to Sam. The leader grabbed the boy by it arms as he yelped in pain, and pulled him towards his face, making him flinched in fear.

"Did you think you were clever with your stolen words? Look at what happened. We are Sycorax, we stride the darkness. Next to us, you are but a wailing child. If you are the best of your planet can offer as a champion-"

" _Then your world will be gutted,"_ the leader said. Alex repeated, staring at the translator.

"Then your world will be gutted…"

_"And your people enslaved."_

"Hold on, that's English." Alex said, glancing up in confusion.

Harriet nodded. "He's talking English."

"I would never dirty my tongue with your primitive bile!" the leader spat out, obviously angered by the mere notion of it.

"That's English. Can you hear English?" Harriet said.

Alex simply glanced up and nodded. "Yeah, that's English."

"Definitely English." Sam agreed.

"I speak only Sycoraxic!" the leader cried angrily. He tossed the boy towards the humans and Alex captured him before he would fall flat on the ground.

"Oh, I'm sure you do," Harriet said gleefully. "I'm absolutely sure. Thing is, if we can hear English, then that means that it's being translated, just in the nick of time. Which means it's working, and that would mean-"

Everyone turned to look at the blue box expectantly. The door swung open, and there stood the Doctor, hands in his leather jacket, brown hair sticking up like crazy, still full clothed with his old self, all leather and green jumper but only with a different face. He stood smugly and glanced around the room as people smiled and sighed relived to see the man.

"Did you miss me?"


	5. The World Champion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything except my OC's Sam, everything else belong to the BBC. You nasty capitalism network who own a lot of things yet very cheap on the budget. (Too far? Sorry.)
> 
> A/N: This chapter will be a bit longer, no scratch that. A lot longer because I went all out for this one because the next chapter would show another new page on the story. New page of him on deciding whether or not to travel with Sam, or just leave him live his life as a kid. So, this is a sort of finishing chapter and there's a lot of change in the process too. I don't know if it's a lot or not but I think it's a lot?
> 
> Anyway! I'm babbling. SO ONTO THE STORY YOUNG PADAWAN!

The Sycorax leader roared in fury and cracked his energy whip, and Sam's breath hitched as the terrible scene of the warning that the leader gives, replayed before his eyes. However, the Time Lord caught the end of the whip with ease and pulled it out of the leader's hand. "You could have someone's eyes out with that," he complained in an annoyed, bored voice.

"How dare!" the leader cried out angrily as the Doctor proceed to snatched the club off him and broke it over his knee before throwing the now useless pieces to the floor. "You just can't get the staff. Now you, just wait. I'm busy." He pointed at the leader's incredulous face warningly before turning around.

With that, he walked away from the baffled angry Sycorax leader and stopped in front of them, beaming. "Harriet Jones! Hello! MP for Flydale North! Blimey, it's like this is your life." He turned to Sam and beamed at him. "Tea! You, brilliant child. That's all I needed, a good cup of tea! Superheated infusion of free radicals and tannin. Just the thing for healing the synapses. How did you now? Oh!" He exclaimed, abruptly changing the topics. "Right, I got an important thing to ask about," the Doctor told him, his expression turning serious as he eyed them, "I have a very important question, and I need you to be completely honest with me," he told Sam and the boy gave him a confused look. "How do I look?"

Sam looked at him taken slightly aback by the question, having expected something more from how serious he looked.

"Oh come on, tell me!" the Doctor insisted.

"Better," Sam told him with a grin.

"Really?" he squeaked preening. Then he turned deadly serious again as he asked, "Am I… ginger?"

"Not ginger, you have brown hair," he told him again and saw the Doctor seemed to deflate before their eyes.

"Aww, I wanted to be ginger," the Doctor said pouting. "I've never been ginger. Oh, and you Sam," he suddenly pointing at the boy. "I have you know I am not just a pompous Time Lord-oh, that's rude. That's the sort of man I am now, am I? Rude. Rude and not ginger. But still," he dropped to his level and gave him a soft smile. "Always keep on helping, aren't you?"

"Of course," Sam replied happily.

The Doctor smiled wide at him, feeling proud about the human race for a moment, as they are brave enough and compassion to help a strange alien who was in the verge of death. Until suddenly, he spotted the ripped shirt that revealed a tiny red line; he froze, the boy got hurt but by who, his eyes roamed around for a moment and spotted the leader holding a whipped. His brain connected the dot, that resulting the anger of the Oncoming Storm rising through his whole body, making Sam shiver for a moment about how intense his stare at him. 

"I'm sorry," Harriet interjected. "Who is this?"

"I'm the Doctor," the Time Lord said as he gets up to his feet.

"But what happened to my Doctor?" Harriet asked, still confused. "Or is it a title that's just passed on?"

At that, the Doctor strode forward. "I'm him." He announced. "I'm literally him. Same man, new face. Well, new everything." He acknowledged with a smirk.

"But you can't be," the Prime Minister said in disbelief.

"Harriet Jones," the Doctor said with his eyebrows raised. "We were trapped in Downing Street and the one thing that scared you, wasn't he alien, it wasn't the war, it was the thought of your mother being on her own," He finished softly.

"Oh my God." Harriet Jones stood in shock, finally taking it all in.

"Did you win the election?" the Doctor asked, peering down at her, his eyes softening.

"Landslide majority," she admitted happily.

"If I might interrupt!" the Sycorax leader put in angrily. They all spun around, having all but forgotten he was there.

"Yes, sorry! Hello, big fella!" the Doctor responded, a bit sheepish at having gotten sos ide tracked.

"Who exactly are you?" the Sycorax leader asked.

"Well," the Doctor replied with a fixed grin, "That's the question."

"I demand to know who you are!" the Sycorax leader shouted his demand.

"I. Don't. Know!" the Doctor growled back, copying the Sycorax leader before rapidly regaining his composure. "See, that's the thing. I'm the Doctor but beyond that. I just don't know. I literally do not know who I am. It's all untested. Am I funny? Am I sarcastic?" He began to wander around, moving past Sam, and Harriet Jones. "Sexy?" he winked at Alex, and the man looked the other away, blushing. "Right old misery? Life and soul? Right handed? Left handed?" His speech began to pick up speed. "A gambler? A fighter? A coward? A traitor? A nervous wreck?" He climbed up some stairs. "I mean, judging by the evidence, I've certainly got a gob."

"You said it." Sam muttered, and the Doctor grinned at him before turning back to look up the stairs he had been climbing.

"And how am I going to react when I see this," the Doctor continued, sounding gleeful as he looked over at the platform behind the Sycorax leader, "A great big threatening button. A great big threatening button which must not be pressed under any circumstances, am I right? Let me guess. It's some sort of control matrix, hmm? Hold on, what's feeding it?" He ran up to it, kneeling at the base and opening it up, revealing a bowl containing some kind of fluid. "And what we've got here? Blood?" he wondered, dipping a finger in the bowl before bringing to his mouth.

"Yeah, definitely blood. Human blood. A Positive, with just a dash of iron," the Doctor confirmed as he waggled his tongue around at the nasty taste and wiped his finger clean on his leather jacket, "Ah, but that means blood control!" He beamed rather delighted at the discovery, despite the lingering bad taste in his mouth. "Oh, I haven't seen blood control for years. You're controlling all the A Positives. Which leaves us with a great big stinking problem. Because I really don't know who I am. I don't know when to stop, so if I see a great big threatening button which should never, ever, ever be pressed, then I just want to do this."

Without warning, clenching his teeth, the Doctor slammed his hand down on said threatening button, causing the humans to shout in alarm.

"You killed them!" Alex accused, shocked.

The Doctor looked over at the Sycorax leader. "What do you think, big fellow?" he asked. "Are they dead?"

"We allow them to live," the leader said begrudgingly.

"Allow?" the Doctor scoffed, amused. "You've no choice. I mean, that's all blood control is," He rubbed his ear as he wandered off again. "A cheap bit of voodoo. Scares the pants off you, but that's as far as it goes. It's like hypnosis. You can hypnotize someone to walk like a chicken or sing like Elvis. You can't hypnotize them to death. Survival instinct's too strong."

"Blood control was just one form of conquest. I can summon the armada and take this world by force," the Sycorax threatened.

"Well, yeah you could, yeah you could do that, of course you could." the Doctor scrunched his face in disdain, then leaned forward, his eyes as wide and earnest as possible. Every vowel, every syllable was savoured by his tongue as he delivered his speech. "Look at these people. These human beings. Consider their potential. From the day they arrive on the planet and blinking step into sun, there is more to see than can ever be seen. More to do than- No, hold on." He looked down, confused, shaking his head. "Sorry, that's the Lion King."

Sam groaned in disbelief as the Doctor paused to wink at him and continued smoothly, straightening his back.

"But the point still stands. Leave them alone!" he proclaimed, an air of utmost confidence surrounding him.

"Or what?" the Sycorax hissed contemptuously. The Doctor's eyes flashed dangerously, but his voice was still calm and controlled, which sent chills down the beholders' spine all the more.

"Good question, big fella. Or-" Abruptly, the Doctor pulled out a long sword from another Sycorax warrior standing by the side and ran back towards the blue box. He stopped right in front of the blue police box, and spun around, holding the sword high up in the air proudly.

"I challenge you!" he declared, wielding a weapon that was almost as long as he was tall, managing to look fierce all the same. There was a general roaring throughout the coliseum at the Doctor's words. He perked up. "Oh, that's struck a chord."

"Am I right that the sanctified rules of combat, still apply?" the Doctor asked as he began to remove his leather jacket.

"You stand as this world's champion?" the Sycorax commander asked, sceptical. Withdrawing their own sword.

"Thank you." the Doctor muttered. "I've no idea who I am, but you summed me up." He stated as he tossed his leather jacket at Sam, indicating with his head for him to stop just as Harriet Jones aide reached out an arm to prevent him from going closer.

"So, you accept my challenge?" the Doctor asked as he raised his sword. "Or are you just a cranak pel casacree salvak!" He taunted, and Sam had no idea what he actually said, but he saw the red alien roared indignantly and raise his sword, the whole crowd of aliens above them growling and cheering in support. The two fighters then both knelt before each other with their swords as the red alien inquired.

"For the planet?"

"For the planet."

They stood facing each other until the Doctor struck first, only to be met with the alien's parry. They swung at each other and clashed again, but the red alien swung his sword, causing the Doctor to stumble back. The Time Lord glanced towards the humans who stood near them, and they all looked at him with the look of encouragement. With a nod and deep breath, he faced his opponent once more, and the two soon clashed swords once again. But only after a few strokes, the Doctor fell down on his back and the alien swung down at him.

"Look out!" Sam shrieked.

"Oh yeah that helps!" the Doctor shouted sarcastically. He barely managed to avoid being hit between his legs as he crawled back. "Wouldn't have thought of that otherwise, thanks."

He continued as he jabbed his sword only to be met by another parry. The fight continued, when the red alien suddenly jabbed his elbow in the Doctor's stomach. He grunted, and he quickly dodged another swing from the red alien as he twisted away, and began to make his way down a side tunnel.

"Bit of fresh air?" he asked, before he stepped out onto the spaceship's hull.

The others quickly followed him and the alien outside, arriving to watch as the two continued to swing and cross blades with each other on the ship's edge. Sam watched anxiously as the Doctor barely blocked his opponent's blows, when suddenly the alien hit the Doctor on the nose causing him momentarily lose his footing. The others took a step forwards trying to help the man, until he caught and stopped them.

"Stay back!" the Doctor shouted. He moved further away from his opponent as he yelled at them. "Invalidate the challenge and he wins the planet."

At that moment, the alien roared and began to swing his sword. The Doctor gave a battle cry as well, lifting his sword. They ran at each other and met in the centre, their blades crossing as they pushed at each other. The alien swung at the Doctor, and they fought when he hit the Doctor in the stomach again, causing him to fall onto his back. Sam gasped as the Doctor fell to close to the edge, his head lolling over the side of the ship.

"Watch out!" Harriet Jones cried as the leader swung don and this time, the Doctor wasn't able to move in time. They all screamed as the sword cut through the Doctor's hand, and Sam watched in horror as his hand and sword fell through the air towards the Earth.

"You cut my hand off." the Doctor said in disbelief.

"Ya!" the Sycorax leader cheered. "Sycorax!"

"And now," the Time Lord stood, "I know what sort of man I am." He grinned as the Sycorax turned to him. "I'm lucky. Because quite by chance, I'm still within the first fifteen hours of my regeneration cycle, which means I've got just enough residual cellular energy to do this." He lifted his stub arm and they all watched in awe as a new hand grew out flexed a greeting.

"Witchcraft."

"Time Lord."

"Doctor!" Sam called out. He grabbed a sword from the nearest Sycorax guard and threw the sword at him. The Time Lord swiftly caught the sword as he twirled the sword in his new hand.

"Want to know the best bit?" the Doctor questioned as he swung the sword at the Sycorax. "This new hand? It's a fighting hand!" He declared in a Western-cowboy accent before charging in to attack.

Sam couldn't help but notice the truth in the Doctor's words, while before he was barely holding his own now he was leading the pace of the battle. This time, it was the Doctor who was disarming the Sycorax. He quickly engaged the alien, taking advantage of his surprise and fear, disarming him and taking both swords, jabbing him in the stomach and causing him to fall back at the edge of the spaceship. The Doctor placed his sword at the Sycorax chin, preventing him from getting up while keeping an eye on it.

"I win," he said darkly.

"Then kill me," the leader chocked out.

"I'll spare your life if you'll take this Champion's command." the Doctor replied in a low tone. "Leave this planet, and never return. What do you say?"

"Yes."

The Doctor stabbed the sword even harder at the Sycorax saying harshly. "Swear on the blood of your species!"

The Sycorax breathed deeply again, before rasping out grudgingly. "I swear."

And with that, the Doctor relaxed. "There we are then. Thanks for that. Cheers, big fellow," he said, blithely, tossing his sword away.

"Bravo!" Harriet Jones cheered as she clapped, impressed beyond words.

"That's says it all. Bravo!"

Sam moved forwards and finally sighed in relieved as the Doctor only grinned at him as he gave him back his leather jacket and putting it on him.

"Ah, not bad for a man who just woke up from a coma, isn't it?" the Doctor bragged. "Although I might say, it's all thanks for my lovely new fighting hand, see." He indicated as he stopped down and grabbed a rock from the ground, tossing it up in the air and catching it with his new hand. "Perfectly functional. Someone's been put on the Naughty List," he teased, showing Sam the black rock. "What do you think?"

"I've seen better," Sam teased.

"Oi!" the Doctor retorted as he gave the boy a playful shoved.

"I'm kidding." Sam giggled at the alien expression. "It was cool, very Arthur Dent. Well, minus the jim-jams and also the towel added with the biker style and the gob." He gestured to the Doctor.

The Doctor turned his head towards him, giving him a hurt gesture. "I'll have you know, that this biker look is famous and I might add, timeless all over the galaxy. Ask anyone! I have even won fashion of the year in the planet Galahad. Me! Won an award for fashion for the very first time. A man who thinks celery was a fashion choice and a huge long scarf. Besides, if anyone needed of a fashion tips, must be you. Jim-jams on a spaceship, really? Although I must say, I agree on the Arthur Dent look, but I am not the one who wearing it."

As he babbled on about a weird fashion sense in other galaxy and planet, the Sycorax leader, forgotten; snatched the Doctor's tossed aside swords and ran back at them, roaring in fury. Hard faced, the Doctor know what was happening, he grabbed the stone from the ground and aimed carefully towards the control pad, timing the perfect time. He almost threw the stone at the control pad on the spaceship hull. That would have opened up a part of the wing, making the Sycorax fall far, far down to the ground below and killing the leader instantly. He now knows what kind of man he is,  _no second chances, I'm that sort of man._

But he wasn't that sort of man. The last memory of him from her perspective that he wasn't that sort of man, never want to be that sort of man anymore. She understands, and she remembered him as a man who give second chances, a better man and he wouldn't insult her memory of him to be that sort of man.

Turning around, he grabbed Sam to behind his back as he put a protective arm around him and pointed at the Sycorax leader, eyes flashing dark with the look of a fierce storm that mix with rage. His voice rang out cold and loud, sending shivers to Sam's spine.

"The fight is over. You have sworn on the blood of your species, do the honour thing and obey the word of the champion."

The Sycorax leader froze on his spot, unable to move an inch as his words and his blood bound him. The Time Lord only stared down at him with those cold calculating eyes, and the leader's jaw quivered-even thou his eyes were full of resentment and hatred for the Doctor, he couldn't help but feel fear the Oncoming Storm, stood over him. Slowly, but surely, he dropped onto his knees. Roaring out in vain for the last time, he dropped his sword.

"There will no third chances," the Doctor warned, his gaze unwavering, his voice calm and carefully controlled. But anyone could see the deadly fury just below. "I forgive once, but not twice. I won't insult her memory by murdering some coward like you. I'm that sort of a man."

With that, he turned away and walked down the stairs. Harriet Jones, and Alex hurriedly followed them. From afar, they could hear the leader's howl of fury and defeat echo in the tunnel. But he walked calmly into the interior of the spaceship, standing in the front of the blue box and firmly staring down at the entire army of Sycorax.

"By the ancient rites of combat, I forbid you to scavenge here for the rest of time," the Doctor declared to the masses of Sycorax. "And when go you back to the stars, and tell others of this planet, when you tell them of its riches, its people, its potential. When you talk of the Earth, then make sure that you tell them this. It. Is. Defended." He declared.

The moment his words came to an end, the three humans, the Doctor, and also the blue box were beamed away. The Sycorax seemed to be more than eager to get away from them and this well defended planet of humans.


	6. Would You Like to Travel with Some Old Battered Time Lord?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything except my OC's Sam Piper who is the descendant of Pied Piper. (Lol JK)

It happened so fast. They were laughing, cheering, and grinning happily when looking up at the Sycorax spaceship flying away from the Earth surface, until a green big light hit it straight to the ship and destroyed it to pieces, surprising both Sam and the Doctor. The next thing he knows; the Doctor were angry to the prime minister but her response was to only challenge the Time Lord which in his opinion, wasn't the best move. Sam might only know the alien for a few days of him being in a come inside his house, but he knows there's something about him that made him afraid, there's some kind of storm inside his eyes when he ordered the Sycorax leader to stand down.

Sam looked on sadly as the Doctor whispered something in Alex's ear, causing Harriet Jones to panic. He truly liked the older woman, and he wished that she hadn't made such a huge mistake in blowing up the Sycorax spaceship as it retreated. He had thought that maybe the Time Lord was being a little harsh in threatening to bring down Harriet's entire government, but then he remembered the thousands of lives on that craft. The Sycorax's might threaten the Earth, but they had been leaving. They hadn't been a threat any longer. So he remained silent as Alex walked away with Harriet Jones following, still anxious.

"Did you need to do that?" Sam asked him quietly. "With Harriet, just now?"

"Earth is dangerous," the Doctor told him. His face darkened as he turned to face the sky. "Future exploration notwithstanding, this planet first alien interaction is rough, and not all of it is because you were invaded. Your planet is a threat to peaceful species, as well. I'm sorry, very sorry that Harriet is a part of that reason, but she causes this on herself. She needed to be shut down before she took it further, because she would have," He finished, his eyes sad. "It's a shame. She is a truly lovely person."

Sam kept himself from replying as the two of the walked back to the house and see the blue telephone's box still was back in front of the yard. He looked at the house and how the door was breaking down and the window shattered into a million pieces. Groaning, he got inside with the Doctor following him along. Looking around, and checking the house, he was glad that no one got inside and stole anything, everything was still intact and it probably because they were all focusing on the alien invasion.

"I can help you fix all this stuff," the Doctor piped up. He saw the boy looked back at him with a confused look.

"How?"

He smiled. "With a bit jiggery and pokery."

"Is that even a word, jiggery pokery?" Sam asked, amused.

"Yeah, I came first in jiggery pokery. What about you?" he joked.

"Nah," Sam replied with a grin. "Can't even pass mumbo-jumbo."

The Time Lord smiled and suddenly fallen as it now replaced with the looked of haunted and guilt through his face, for a moment he remembered his yellow and pink human, his lovely companion on their first day trip, he took her on the day the earth burned, wanted to see what is her reaction seeing her world burn. But after all of that, she still stayed with him, even offer him some company when he told her about how his planet burned.

"Are you alright?" Sam voiced shook him out of his thought.

"Yeah. I'm alright, just a bit after effect of the regeneration." the Doctor tried to reassured him. His voice shaking a bit. "Just remembered something that's all. I can still fix this, although perhaps you don't have any other clothes that I can wear. It's just, leather isn't my style anymore and I need something new and I would get back to the TARDIS wardrobe for better choices but she sorts of locked herself away at the moment, probably fixing herself."

Sam looked at him confused but nodded. "I think I can find some clothes, although don't expect much." He walked away until stopped. "Hold on, what's a TARDIS?"

"My spaceship," the Doctor pointed at the blue box. "It's called the TARDIS. T-A-R-D-I-S, stand for Time and Relative Dimension in Space."

"You name your spaceship? Isn't a bit weird?" Sam asked him.

"She! Not an it and yes, I name her. Well," he scratched the back of his head nervously. "More like my granddaughter name her, and the old girl likes it."

"Likes it?"

"She's alive, actually. A sentient."

Sam nodded, still a bit stunned. "It flies, does it?" he asked, wondering how that worked. Surely someone would notice a police box flying about in the sky.

"No," he said. "It disappears in one place and reappears in another."

"Why is it blue and shape like a police box?"

"Blimey you small children do ask a lot of question," the Doctor muttered. He looked up and sighed. "Well, you see. It should've blend in with the time period on wherever it landed on, but then the Chameleon Circuit was broken, although I suspect it was broken because a certain granddaughter accidently spilled some of her soda on the console but she didn't want to admit it so I let it go. Anyway! Now it's stuck."

"Oh," Sam told him. He glanced up at him and looked a bit uncertain about something. "Can I ask you a question? I know it's a bit annoying and you don't have to answer it."

The Doctor turned around and faced him. "Sure. Eh? Sam was it?"

The boy nodded.

"Well, can't help it when you have a curious mind and never stop asking question. It's good for your brain, so what do you wanna ask then?" the Doctor asked him, leaning up against the wall outside the kitchen.

"This thing about you, and the whole regeneration thing too," Sam began. He looked the Doctor stiffened. "Unless, you don't want to tell me. That's alright."

He didn't want to tell him. The Time Lord just met the boy, and he didn't want to scare him away. Maybe if he just said it was a sort of a hard thing explain, he would understand. But he couldn't lie to him, the boy just saved his life and he did want to ask him that bit about how he knows about the tea. Besides, he's going to drop him off his house and leave the boy there, and he would slowly forget about him.

"Doctor?" he asked uncertainly.

"Time Lord have this trick," the Doctor told him, his voice distant and hard. "A way of cheating death. Every cell in the body changes as it repairs. But regeneration can last for over a century, my first lasted nearly a hundred and fifty years."

"Your first?" Sam asked. "So how many that you had?"

"This is my ninth regeneration, so my tenth body," the Doctor told him, looking to see how he would take that.

Sam nodded absently, absorbing all the new information flying at him. "And your hand?" he wanted to know. "That Sycorax guy sliced it clean off, how did you grow another hand?"

"That was just a lucky fluke," the Doctor admitted. "Time Lords are vulnerable immediately after their regeneration, as you saw. We build up excess regeneration energy, that golden cloud I was expelling, that can repair damage incurred within the first fifteen hours after the change."

Sam frowned. "Why fifteen? What about normal hours, like twenty-four hours?"

"Twenty-four hours is human Earth day, Sam," the Doctor told him. "Fifteen hours is half of a Gallifreyan day."

"Ah," Sam nodded. "Gotcha."

"Now, do you have anything else you wanted to ask or talk about?" the Doctor asked him. He was grinning at him, maybe some of the question wasn't so bad after all.

Sam shook his head. "No, I'm good."

"Good, because about that clothes we were talking about," the Doctor told him. "I still need a new style, not really comfortable working in this old jumper and leather jacket style. I looked like some sort too cheerful biker with a big gob."

"Right! I'll be back in a minute." the boy walked back towards the cupboard before he grabbed some flashlight on the table, he then flashed the light around the boxes and started to opened the boxes one by one and searched through some used clothes or the one they were trying to give away and not used anymore.

"So Sam, where is your parents?" the Doctor asked suddenly as he grabbed the pieces of glass and cleaned it up while trying to attach them together. "Thought they would be freaking out by now, their son gone missing with a strange box and even inviting him to live in their couch for a while."

Sam got quite for a moment.

"I don't have a mum and dad," Sam replied. He tried to shuffle his way through the cupboard, it seemed easier now to talk about stuff like this. "Just and aunt and an uncle."

"Then where's your aunt and uncle?" the Doctor looked around the empty house.

"Out." Sam replied quickly.

"And they left you alone in the house?" the Doctor asked a bit disbelievingly.

"I'm tenth years old, and I think I'm old enough to be left alone," Sam told him. He grabbed a box full of clothes. "It's not like I'm scared or anything."

"Course you're not. You're not scared of anything." the Doctor finished fixing the bolt in the door. "Box appeared on your yard, man falls out of the box, taking care a weird man in a coma, alien invasion, and look at you finding clothes to give the man a change. Not a bad Christmas don't you think?"

"Pretty much," Sam told him. He grabbed the box and walked towards him while he was focusing his blue pen again on the sides of the door. "What's that?"

The Doctor looked up at him and showed him. "It's a sonic screwdriver."

"A sonic what?"

"Screwdriver. It's sonic and its mine, handy tool I have in my travel." the Time Lord told him as he was grinning.

"Okay then," Sam said awkwardly then handed him a box. "There's a lot of clothes there so, I don't know. Go crazy or something? You can change in my room upstairs."

"Right then!" the Doctor exclaimed, clapped his hands together. He grabbed the box away. "Give me five minutes and I'll be back down."

The Time Lord proceed to walked away upstairs with an excited grin and aura around him while the boy only looked at him confused. After he was upstairs, the boy looked around and was surprised that the house was still intact and a lot cleaner, there were no sign of any broken glasses, he walked to the door and opened to check that it was now bolted and fix. He glanced back at the Doctor, how can that man be so fast on fixing everything up, maybe it was in his nature or something? Doctors do fix and heal people, maybe he was just about the same.

0o0

Walking through the hallway of the house and went to all the locked doors, there was one doors that he hadn't tried. Opening the door, it revealed another stair, feeling confused he flicked the light switch and walked his way upstairs and saw a medium size that used to be an attic but now a child bed room, specifically, Sam's bedroom.

The room was a mess, but it wasn't a dirty laundry mess and more in a sort of lots of books and papers on the ground sort of mess. He walked slowly and tried not to bumped into some of the stack of books, and placed the box on top of the medium size bed near the window and looked around for a bit. Looking around the room, he spotted a picture of the constellation and a lava lamp and curiously glanced at it carefully until he spotted a picture of a man with brown hair and wild hazel eyes wrapping his arms around a woman with dark brown hair and a warm smile, both looking down at a new edition to their family. He knows exactly who's the child is, but somehow, he felt something was familiar with the woman; as if he knows her, from a memory, a long time ago.

Clearing his thought, he needs to focus on changing what his style rather than focusing on an old picture. He grabbed the box and tilted it upside down making the clothes pour down to the boy's bed. The Doctor proceed to picking himself a new outfit from the box, as he grabbed a shirts and a sort of new jacket; one of them was a brown tweed jacket, and the other was a brown leather jacket.

"Well then," the Doctor told himself. "Which one is going to be?"

In a seconds, he changed into the brown leather jacket under a white shirt with a cravat around it. He momentarily considered the outfit, but shook his head. Too much of Jack's taste. Downright appalling. He looked himself in the mirror and it was the first time he looked at himself properly. Not bad, he had to admit, he examined his big hair into an artful state of disarray, and how a bit pretty he was. Rather like Adam and Jack, glancing down, he now realized he wore the brown leather jacket.

"No. No. No." the Doctor pointed at himself. "Leather's not me anymore."

Rummaging around again, he took off the leather jacket and change into a red jacket with a zipper and a hoodie, then turned around to the mirror and looked at himself. He scrunched his nose at the sight, looking a bit too casual for his taste and only fit on some lazy day or going out to the market. His scrutinizing gaze casually swept over a long scarf and a weird looking hat. He didn't feel like wearing it, he wasn't at all like his fourth regeneration when it comes to fashion, well at least he won't be like his fifth either. It was then when a suit on a lower pile caught his attention, already dressed with an Oxford shit. He examined it speculatively, a simple brown pin stripped suit that would be perfect for his new style.

He slipped into the suit while looked back to search a shoes and an appropriate tie. The tie took quite a long time to decide, so he went to with his old shoes and shrugged, he could just wear another better when he arrived in the TARDIS. Walking down through the stairs, he spotted a simple worn, chucks that earned his interest. Quickly grabbing it, he wore it and realized that it might not be a bad choice. He could wear a suit but there was still going to be an awful lot of running. Chuck would be better than dress shoes, and would quite nicely add the quirk he needed to his classy style. He went back to the mirror and examined the whole package, twisting around before scrubbing a hand down his face again. He straightened up. Oh yeah, this was good. He was going to have fun in this body. Rose would like this body.

_Rose._

No. He won't dwell on her, he promised her. Move on, find companion to travel with, and become the Doctor she always love; besides, she know how rubbish he is when he travel alone. Of course she would know, she's Rose Tyler, she would always know, and now she's gone because of him. He shook his head, and tried not to think about it more, always running away from those thought.

Travel. That's how he got off from those thought, he should travel but with who? He needs someone, she was right but he didn't know who, maybe he could ask the boy if he wanted to travel with him. One problem about that idea is, Sam's only a child, and he has a certain rule about having a child as a companion, of course it was for a very great complicated reasons. He was sure he had a list somewhere with those reasons, though he couldn't shake the look of awe in the boy eyes, melded with curiosity and something so unique yet that special something that always have been in all of his companions.

He never knows why; he only knows who.

"No!" the Doctor scolded himself. "No child companion. That's the rules!"

Although, one trip won't hurt anyone. A small trip just to show his gratitude for saving him and taking care of him while he was in a regeneration coma. After that, he would take him back, same place and same time as if nothing happened. He could do that, he nodded at himself as he made himself downstairs, having a proposition to a certain boy.

Arriving downstairs, he glanced around the house and saw Sam was outside wearing jacket and still in his jim-jams while looking outside. The Doctor made his way outside and stood slowly beside the boy and saw about the falling snow, that he knows wasn't a real snow followed by meteors in the sky.

"You look better!" Sam told him. He smiled then frowned. "There's something missing, hold on!" He went running back inside as the Doctor frowned at him.

Walking outside again, he holds out a long brown coat and gave it to him. "Here, to keep you warm and it has a big pocket so you can put your sonic thing inside it."

"Thank you." the Doctor said to him. He eagerly put on the long coat, it was the perfect size to him.

"This is really cool." Sam breathed as he looked up at the sky. Bright lights flashed past in streaks through the night sky. "What are they, meteors?" He asked.

"It's the spaceship breaking up in the atmosphere. This isn't snow, it's ash." the Doctor replied bluntly.

"Not so cool, when you look at it that way," Sam muttered as he wrinkled his nose.

The Doctor hugged out a breath of air as he mused. "This is a brand new planet Earth. No denying the existence of aliens now. Everyone saw it. Everything's new."

"So, are you going to keep on whatever you were doing now?" Sam asked him.

"Well," the Doctor began, looking at the blue box. "Back to the TARDIS. Same old life."

"That's cool, well," Sam nodded. He glanced down to his shoe then looked up at him. "Just be careful, alright. Don't want you end up on the couch again in a coma."

"Unless!" the Doctor retorted, making the boy glanced up to him. "You could come with me?"

"Sorry?"

"This box isn't just a spaceship you know," the Doctor continued quickly. "It's a time machine. It goes anywhere in the universe, free of charge. We can go anywhere and anytime you like and still have time for some tea. So what do you say?"

Sam hesitated. "I'm still in my jim-jams."

"Oh, don't worry." the Doctor reassured him. "Plenty of clothes in the wardrobe and possibly a swimming pool."

Sam examined him, his eyes roaming over his face curiously, before he peered into those eyes that looked so old, added with the stormy looked he had earlier, and despite the fact that he scared him. Sam, for some utter weird reason, trusted him. Just as he'd instinctively trusted him when he'd first seen him.

"So," the Doctor exclaimed. "Come with me?"

"Can you get me back here, same time and same place?" Sam suddenly asked. He would love to travel and all, but of course he need to come back and he would get a lot of trouble if he didn't.

He looked at him incredulously, "I did already mention it's a time machine, of course I can get you back at the same day."

"Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool." Sam mumbled under his breath. He grinned and joined the Doctor as they walked inside the time machine.

Closing the door of the TARDIS, he looked over the boy who looked around in wondered and an excited smile plastered on his face. The Time Lord smile, maybe this wasn't a bad idea after all. He pulled a lever and Sam squealed with joy, they braced themselves as they took off, all of them whooping and laughing in delight while the time machine wheezed.

"Welcome aboard Mister Sam!" the Doctor told him. "Rule number one! Don't wander off."


	7. The Star-ship UK

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On their first adventure, the Doctor and Sam Piper gone off to a futuristic ship known as the Star-ship UK. A beautiful ship with civilization and yet a dark secret.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Doctor Who. I wish I do, I really do. But I don't. Well, except my OC's of course.
> 
> A/N: It's one of probably my favorite episode on Moffat Era and I don't really have that much a lot episode on Moffat Era but I like this one because I like the concept of it. Of course there would be a lot of tweaking of the episode and all, because this is played on the perspective on different character.
> 
> ANYWAY! Onward to the story.

Space. The Final Frontier. This is the first thought that come into Sam's head when he was sitting with his feet dangling outside the TARDIS door, gazing up at the stars. The sight before him was breath-taking. In front of him, was deep space, a black sky full of stars, and a milky blue galaxy swirling and dancing just nearby. For his first trip, the Doctor decided that they should do something easy, making him believe that it was a real spaceship and he wasn't there to kidnapped him, there's also a little fact it happened because a certain someone was challenging him and also for the little ego boost for him. It was beyond beautiful, sort of felt as if he was seeing one of those computer generated images of spaces, with planets, stars, and galaxies.

Only, this was real.

There was a wonderful silence in space that he loved, with galaxies and constellations sparkled with thousands of more colours. Sam was beaming as he looked about at the stars and the universe stretching out for miles around him. It was so beautiful, and it was so much better than what he could see with any telescope or looking through any image in books.

"Enjoyin' the view?" the Doctor asked him. He smiled smugly at him while leaning on the edge of the door.

As Sam pulled his legs and got up, he saw the Doctor stood beside him and asked triumphantly. "Now do you believe me?"

"Okay, your box is real and it can travel to space." Sam said with excitement, his eyes still wide and shinning. "It's really, really a spaceship. We are in space!" He shouted into space and the Doctor laughed again, shaking his head in amusement.

Sam paused, took a deep breath and asked, "What are we breathing."

"I've extended the air shell." the Doctor explained to him, looking out at the view. "We're fine."

Sam looked outside, and there's something that caught his sight. It was a massive oval shape made of metal, it looked like a ship but wasn't a ship because there were the tall buildings rising from the base in a mess of metal and neon.

"Doctor," Sam called. "What's that floating city-ship over there?"

"Floating city?" the Doctor repeated. "Really?"

Sam kept his grip on one of the doors and watched as the cramped looking city block continued to drift past them. It was too far to see in great detail, but there were bright neon lights illuminating the tall metal structures with words and something that sort of looked like the Britain flat plastered besides it.

"Now that's interesting." the Doctor shot up, pulling Sam along to the console. "Twenty-ninth century, solar flares roast the Earth and the entire human race packs its bags and moves out till the weather improves, whole nations migrating through the stars." He sprints over and closes the doors, before running back to the console to throw down a lever, making the ship shake as he raced around it then followed with a loud wheezing sound, finished with a loud thump. "This is apparently the Star-ship UK. This is the United Kingdom of Britain and Northern Ireland all bolted together. They're a colony ship, on route to a new settlement planet."

Stepping out of the TARDIS, Sam looked around at the strange mixture of futuristic and old fashioned shopping corridor. It reminded him of one of those nicer shopping areas that his aunt had taken him for a few times as a kid when she was looking to buy school supplies for her children, he would usually come to carry her shopping bag while she shops. There was a line of shops and small café along the walls with tables and lamp post filling part of the middle section. Overhead, a great glass ceiling exposing the stars beyond them, filling Sam with both excitement and a hint of fear. There were banners, bright colours, and people on bikes, but there was something off.

It wasn't as loud as it should be.

"Welcome to London Market," a computerized sounding voice said around them. Sam spotted the announcement system speakers. "You are being monitored. London Market is a crime-free zone."

"Can you sense it? There's something wrong in here," the Doctor said. He frowned a little, his brown eyes scanned the area and his frown deepened. "Not sure yet, but something is out of shape here. What do you think?"

"I'm not sure yet," Sam answered. "Yeah, something just feels weird, like everyone just so scared at something. But why?"

Then he spotted a girl, around his age or much older on a bench, crying so hard that her body was shaking, but no one was stopping. She was dressed in what looked like a school uniform with her light brown hair tied out of her face. Frowning, Sam looked closely, none of the adults walking past her even gave her a glance, they just walked by without care. In fact, if anything, they were avoiding her, looking away and walked even faster.

_Why aren't they doing anything?_

Sam was about to go over to her when the Doctor put a hand on his shoulder. He jumped and spun around. "What? She's crying and I think I can help her out."

"I know," the Doctor told him. He looked around the ship. "But there's something else, and I want to look around more. Life on a giant star-ship. Back to basics. Bicycles, washing lines, wind-up street lamps. But," He pulled Sam closed as he said, "Look closer. Secret and shadows, lives led in fear. Society bent out of shape, on the brink of collapse. A police state."

He suddenly dashed off, and pulled his hands away from Sam, making him blink in surprise. The Doctor snagged a glass of water from a nearby table, ignoring the protests of the couple sitting there. He set it on the ground, kneeling to inspect it and Sam's eyed between him and the little girl. He frowned at both.

"Doctor?"

"Sorry," the Doctor said. He grinned as he handed the water back to the woman. "Everything is in order. Just your ordinary water inspection." He grabbed Sam's hand and they headed off towards the little girl.

"Why did you do that with the water?" Sam asked.

"There were no vibrations in the water," the Doctor told him. He paused and glanced around the ship. "Must have really impressive stabilizers around the engine. Even beat the TARDIS."

"Is that why it shakes so much? Because it's going really fast and you don't have stabilizers?"

"Probably."

Sam shook his head and turned his attention to the girl again. "None of the adults are stopping to talk to her. They just keep walking past her."

The Doctor stared at him. "One little girl crying. Why do you think she's interesting?"

"Well, she's crying silently so she doesn't want to draw any attention to her," Sam replied softly. He looked at her and memories of his first night at his uncle and aunt house came back to him in a rush.

The Doctor nodded before continuing his earlier thoughts. "Hundreds of parents walking past who spot her, and not one of them asking her what's wrong, which means they already know, and it's something they don't talk about. Secrets. They're not helping her, so it's something they're afraid of-" He looked around at the bustling crowds. "Shadow. Whatever they're afraid of, it's nowhere to be seen which means it's everywhere. Police state. She's not the thing that wrong, but she's evidence of it."

0o0

In a stately room filled with water glasses that were all too still, a woman in a cloak sat on the floor. Beside her was a fashioned black phone, it rang once, drawing her attention and with a graceful motion, she plucked it from its cradle.

"Sorry to interrupt," a male voice said. "There's been a sighting. London block, Oxford Street. A man."

"The woman touched a white mask at her feet, picking it up with long fingers. "Did he do the thing?" she asked almost urgently.

"Apparently."

"I'll have a look on the monitors," she said.


	8. Meeting New Friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Doctor Who. I wish one day, that I would write a fic and the disclaimer would be me owning Doctor Who. That would be really cool!
> 
> A/N: Hello! It's me again and yes it is still the Beast Below with a few twink.  
> Also! I realize that I never actually describe how Sam's look, and I guess I should, but I give you a bit what I think he would look like.
> 
> If you watch Star Wars or in the Star Wards Fandom, imagine Cassian Andor and Jyn Erso had a child (this is really sad, I'm sorry for the Star Wars Fandom). That would be what Sam's look like; a mix between those two. 
> 
> That's all! Onto the story.

Sam and the Doctor were trying and probably failing not to stand out. They were now sitting on one of the benches a few paces away, watching the little girl from afar. Earlier today, the Doctor were trying to ask her what's wrong and it got a bit weird as she just walked away from him, there's also times where he tried to 'accidently' found her wallet which didn't go well as there's a few authorities now getting a bit suspicious. Out of idea, now they were just watching the girl from afar, and it felt a bit creepy to Sam as he waited for the Doctor to share one of his brilliant plan.

"One of us should talk to her," the Doctor said. He looked at him. "Should be you."

"Why me?" Sam frowned.

"Well," the Doctor said as he tugged his ear. "You look like the same age, isn't probably easier for you to talk to her?"

"No. That's not how it works." Sam told him as he folded his arms.

"It's not."

"No!"

"Really?"

"Yes Doctor." Sam said to him a bit annoyed. "Besides, why not you talk to her? You're a grown up."

"No." the Doctor protested. "You have a go with the girl." He looked intently at the strange booths with the creepy looking torsos and heads. They looked normal enough with the bright red booth, but there were scattered all around the market area so they weren't just a simple decoration. "Ask her about those things."

"Those are so creepy," Sam muttered. "What's with the face?"

"Don't know, but look at them." the Doctor pointed out. "They're clean. Everything else here is battered and filthy, look at this place. But no one's laid a finger on those booths. Not a footprint within two feet of them."

"So, people are scared of those thing." Sam pointed out.

"Exactly!" the Doctor exclaimed with a huge grin. He got up and signalled to the girl. "So you talk to the girl and ask her about the booth."

"Wait," Sam said, grabbing the Doctor long coat. "What are you going to do?"

"What I always do, stay out of trouble by pocking around the place," the Doctor answered with an easy going grin.

"Of course you are." Sam sighed. He looked at the Doctor as he wandered off in the opposite direction.

He turned to the girl and took a deep breath, hating himself for a moment by getting up from the chair and gathering last courage as he finally walked to her. If there's one thing he wasn't great at is talking to people, that's probably why he doesn't have so many friends that much, and probably why this was going to be a huge chunk of failure that could be add on his big book section of social skills. Sam headed for the girl and saw that she'd finally stopped crying, leaving stains on her cheeks and red eyes. Yet none of the adults moved to help her, and Sam glanced at the odd little booths that everyone was giving such a fright.

"Hello," Sam greeted, he fidgets slightly. "I'm Sam. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," the girl said.

"Are you sure?" Sam asked. The girl stood up and started walking and he hurriedly followed her around the corner. "Look, I just don't feel right leaving you alone."

"Liar. You're following me." the girl retorted back as she stood there and walked towards him trying to intimidate him. "Saw you watching me at the marketplace with your dad."

"You're right." Sam told her. He held his hand up, trying defence himself. "But to be fair, we do that because we really are curious. I mean you were crying, and with the way you were crying, it doesn't felt right leaving you alone."

"Everyone else did."

"Well, I'm not everyone else," Sam said. He smiled a little as the girl gave him a strange look, deciding to try again, Sam held his hand out to the girl. "Sam Piper, nice to meet you."

"Mandy Tanner."

"Nice to meet you Mandy," Sam said. He looked at her again. "Now tell me, what's going on?"

"My friend got a zero and…" Mandy trailed off and swallowed. She turned and started walking quickly from Sam.

Following along behind, Sam glanced up at a sign that read 'Dean Street' and wondered just where the girl was going. There was a layer of dirt on the ground that spoke of how long the ship had been flying. Mandy glanced back at her with a small frown.

"Stop following me!"

"I can't. Not until I know what really happened." Sam said. "And I can see you're scared of something."

"I'm not." Mandy grumbled. She quickens her pace.

"Alright, I'll rephrase my words, I can see everyone else scared."

"There's nothing to be afraid of," Mandy told him. "The only thing I'm scared of right now is you following me around like a dog."

"Yeah, sorry about that part, I guess. Honestly, I wouldn't have wanted a stranger following me either." Sam frowned and tilted his head in consideration. "So the question I face now is do I let you who couldn't stop crying and just had something bad happened to her friend, wonder alone or do I just follow her around so she knows that someone do cares even if it is a bit creepy."

Mandy suddenly stopped her stepped and turned around to look at him, there was a spark of something in her eyes but then the girl turned around quickly and started walking again, still not fully trusting Sam. The boy followed and almost walked into her as Mandy came to a sudden stop. Ahead of them was a hole in the road with a rough yellow fence barring the street entrance and the words 'keep out' printed on it in big black letters. Above the tent was a large billboard sign that read; 'Magpie Electrical.'

"What's that?" Sam asked.

"There's a hole. We have to go back." Mandy told him. Her tone had suddenly changed as she clutched her bag tighter, becoming fearful.

"Over a hole?" Sam frowned a walked forward, kneeling down and examining the rough barrier.

"Are you stupid?" Mandy asked, forcing Sam to pause. "There's a hole in the road, we can't go that way." The boy opened the gate blocking the tarp, which was assumedly covering the hole. "There's a travel pipe down by the airlocks, if you've got stamps. What are you doing?"

"Just taking a look." Sam told her. He looked back at her. "Mandy, what's so scary about a hole? What's under the road that has you and them so worried?"

The girls shook her head, flicking her gaze from the booths to Sam, and the tent. "I don't know. No one knows. We're not supposed to talk about it."

"About what?"

"B-Below." she stuttered, tears starting to swell. There was a ring of finality to her voice.

Behind them, the odd smiling face in the red booth began to turn around. The smiling face was replaced with a frown. Mandy stepped a bit closer to Sam and watched as he tampered a bit with the lock using a hairpin and a few minutes later it snapped open. Carefully, he pulled the chain and dropped in on the ground.

"What are you doing?" Mandy hissed.

"Oh, opening this lock with a hairpin. It's really easy when you get the hang of it." Sam said.

"Please stop," Mandy told him nervously. "You shouldn't do that. How come you don't know that?"

"I'm not from here," Sam answered. "I'm just traveling with a friend. We thought we'd pop by and see this Star-ship." He turned back towards Mandy, still kneeling in the dirt. "And then we came across something weird going on, and that's not the sort of thing he like to find in places he visits, I think?"

"You're traveling? From where? It's not that far to anywhere."

"It's sort of complicated, but I travel much far from here." Sam told her. "You could say I even travel on different time." He chuckled.

"You're strange," Mandy said. "So, are you traveling with your dad?"

"He's not my dad," Sam replied. He whispered quietly. "Oh."

"What?" Mandy asked from beside the fence.

"Nothing." Sam said quickly. "It's just that." He glanced back at Mandy as he admitted in a small voice. "I'm traveling with a stranger that I just met. Funny how things slip your mind."

"You're traveling with a stranger?" Mandy asked incredulously.

Sam replied, "Yeah, I know."

Mandy laughed a little, but then Sam pulled the lock away and opened the gate. The frowning face turned to a scowling one and Mandy stiffened. Sam glanced towards the booth, noting Mandy's discomfort, wondering what would have happened if the booth turned angry. He slowly opened the gate and stepped inside

"Stop!" Mandy looked nervously at the booth. "You mustn't do that!"

Sam found himself in a small space illuminated by low red lights. A strange smell hit his nose and made him gag a bit. He glanced around and found a torch which he grabbed, shinning the light forwards. Sam blinked in surprise, ahead of him was a large shimmering tentacle rising out of the hole in the floor.

"Oh. That's not weird at all."

The creature strike with what seemed to be either a break or a stinger, but instead it rubbed against his cheek, causing him to open his eyes and heard a deep sorrowful cries. He felt his breath hitch at the intense waves of feelings until a sound of Mandy screaming throw it away. Hurriedly, he got outside and found tall figures were crowing around them, all of them with painted scowling faces. Sam turned to Mandy and grabbed her hand in a tight but gentle grip, ready to tugged her away.

"Run!"


	9. Forget or Protest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Doctor Who except my Original Character, Mister Sam Piper.
> 
> A/N: Oh, this is interesting isn't it? I mean, of course he's going to be a bit paranoid, he just lost a companion; lost someone he loves. I do have options to make his image darker as he just lost Rose, but I don't know if it can work.

Poking around, the Doctor climbed down a ladder into the engine room. He hated feeling insecure about the situation, and felt he shouldn't have left his newly companion alone to track down for clues, he should've known how trouble magnet his companion is, even thou they're still new. Now it's worse as it added the young factor on his new companion, deep down he knew this was an awful idea. The urge to dash back to the market to check on him was overwhelming, but he kept beating it down.

Rose would know. Of course she would, and if she's here then she would be with Sam right now and she would be so clever and won't leave the boy alone. The girl has so much compassion that it stunned him how care she was and protective she was with people she cares about. So compassionate, that it took her life away. Trying to save this daft old man. She's gone now, and it hurts him. It didn't help how he hated the wanting feeling of his hand keeping reaching for Rose's arms only to find empty air. The feeling sent shivers up to his spine and made both of his hearts ache slightly. Forcing himself to breathe, he need to remember how he needs to forget and move on from her. He needs to move on and have adventure, saving peoples, travels with new friends. She would want that, of course she would.

Finally, the Doctor jumped down from the ladder and looked around the so called engine room. Everything about the place was wrong, a spaceship this huge with people living on top of it should have a very heavy engineer and mechanic running around the room to guard the machine and kept it stabilize so the people above won't feel the vibration at all. Of course there's stabilizer but that won't cover all until you can't feel anything at all. The Doctor slowly placed his hands on the wall leaning into it to listen for something. They were smooth, cold metal, and completely still.

"Can't be." the Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver to get a reading. He then noticed a glass of water on the floor, and lied down to stare at it.

"The impossible truth in a glass of water," the faint, wispy voice said. Looking up, the Doctor saw a woman standing in front of him. She was tall, and dressed in a red cloak with a beautiful porcelain mask covering her face. "Not many people see it. But you do, don't you Doctor" she commented.

"You know me?" the Doctor asked, trying to be casual even as his curiosity grew.

"Keep your voice down. They're everywhere." she gestured around them and the Doctor wondered just what she was referring to. "Tell me what you see in the glass."

"Well, there's water and-"

"Don't waste time! At the marketplace, you placed a glass of water on the floor, looked at it, then came straight here to the engine room. Why?"

"No engine vibration on deck," the Doctor answered. "Ship this size, engine this big, you'd feel it. The water would move. Doesn't make sense, even the best stabilizers couldn't pull that off so I thought there's some worker down here that could've show me how it works. But of course there's no one here." He pulled out the thick cabling that should have been linked up but wasn't. "These power couplings, they're not connected. There's nothing behind this wall." He rapped on the metal only to get an echo in return. "It's hollow. If I didn't know better, I'd say there was-"

"No engine at all," both he and the woman said together.

"Quite right too, but it's working." the Doctor added. He looked around the room. "The ship is traveling through space. We saw it."

"The impossible truth, Doctor. We're traveling among the stars in a spaceship that could never fly."

"How?" the Doctor demanded.

"I don't know," the woman admitted. "There's darkness at the heart of this nation. It threatens every one of us. Help us, Doctor. You're our only hope. Your friend is safe" She gave the Doctor some strange looking device and added, "This will take you to her. Now go, quickly!"

Smacking himself mentally, the mention of Sam made his hearts jump. Even her words that he was safe wasn't comforting enough for him, it only meant that he'd been noticed. Of course he'd been noticed, it was impossible not to notice people who travels with him. Holding the tracking device, he saw the woman turned to leave and the Doctor wared with worry and curiosity.

"Who are you?" the Doctor asked. "How do I find you again?"

"I'm Liz Ten, and I will find you."

There was a crashing noise and the Doctor looked around, but when he turned back, Liz 10 was gone.

0o0

Running away from the men dressed in black cloaks in the street he didn't exactly know about was a bit difficult yet not possible for the two children. They were running around as Sam glancing a place to where they could hide while holding Mandy on a tight gripped. He couldn't just leave her there, the men would do something horrible to her and the same horrible thing they done to her friend.

"Come on." Sam urged, dragging Mandy with him as he quickly trying to find a place to hide or to rest.

Finally, he saw a room with an opened door and ran straight towards it. Without thinking any further, the two of them slammed the door shut and slowly slid down to the floor, panting tiredly from running. The truth is, he was never a runner nor a fan of sports. He never picked on the team and he would always sit on the bench and waited for their friends to finished gym class. Of course he can't complain much, not with how weak he is at running. But he couldn't complain, it was nice chatting with the others who were bench too by the teacher.

"You alright?" Mandy asked her. Her face full with concerned.

"Yeah," Sam told her, panting heavily. He took a deep breath. "Not use with the running, and not much of a runner. Hates it, actually."

"Are you crying?"

"No, it's probably the dust from all the running got into my eyes." Sam said to her as he hurriedly wiped his face. He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself and stopped him from shaking.

The boy lied of course, there was something about this spaceship, something huge, angry, but something that is hurting, it hurts so much that he can't help what have the people done to it. Questions started bombarding through his head, and he need to find the Doctor about this. He stood up slowly and looked around the place, there was nothing suspicious except there was a camera, a screen that was off, a pair of Smiler, and a bench which added the looked of torture chamber.

Sam turned to Mandy and quickly asked, "Where are we?"

"It's a voting cubicle," Mandy explained.

"Voting for what?" he asked, and Mandy shrugged.

"I'm not sure," she admitted. "But everyone goes to vote once they've reached sixteen. It's perfectly safe."

"Then what is it about? To vote the leader or somethin?" Sam wondered, and Mandy looked at him as he was daft.

"Something about history, but after you finish watching it you can either to choose protest or forget. People only voted forget of whatever they saw," Mandy told him, and Sam's frown deepened.

"That doesn't sound fair."

"It is." Mandy replied. She surprised. "Everyone done it, they all choose to forget what they saw in the vote and they carry on with their lives."

"Wait, what happen when you get sent down there?"

"Y-You get sent down below. I told you that." she stuttered.

"But what happens when you get sent down there?"

"I don't know!"

Sam gave her a soft look. "But you were crying about something earlier. It was about whatever's below wasn't it."

Mandy stared straight at him, as if a shock ran up her spine.

"Mandy please." Sam begged. "I know this is hard. It is entirely rude of me to know but it is important."

"Today in school, my best friend Timmy got a zero. A-And that is bad enough! But, well… you're not to ride the Vator after you get a zero. That's the rule! You're not supposed to! So, so I told him I'd wait for him. But he kept complaining about how far London from school." Mandy told him. She started to teared up again. "It's a twenty deck walk, but I told him 'You can't ride the Vator or you'll get sent below!' I waited him for hours, a-and he never showed up. No one knows where he is, and I just know that he tried to take the Vator anyway! I-I'll never see him again."

Sam stared at her and slowly pulled into feeling some empathy for her, the place was horrid than he thought. In truth, he can't really react on emotion that well, he's not that great with feelings or even comforting people, but the idea that people living in fear and sadness because losing your friend and your child to whatever below is, and can't actually do anything because it was some shady thing the people but there's nothing you can do about it, he can tell how frustrated some people can be. He slowly tried to comfort Mandy, as she sob's her way until it become sniffles. But Sam abruptly straightened up when he heard his name being called in the distance.

"Sam!" the Doctor called.

"Doctor?" he called back, standing up and opening the door.

"Sam!" his footsteps echoed louder as he turned the corner. "Ah! There you are!"

"Doctor!" Sam said as he stood up. He pointed at him. "Mandy, this is the Doctor, the one that I told you about. Doctor, Mandy Turner."

"A pleasure Miss Turner." the Doctor said, walking up to shake her hand.

"You're the guy who tried to stole my wallet!" she snapped.

"Oh, well, um yes. I'm so sorry about that," the Doctor smiled sheepishly before turning to Sam. "Now, what happened? Where have you been?"

Sam recounted every detail that had occurred since he tracks down Mandy. He told them about the people in the black coat that was chasing them down, he told them about the hole, and there was something down below that made people afraid, also how they're in the voting booth to vote for something. Though he left out the bits about the feeling he got, the cried of agony he heard only a seconds that broke his heart.

"Voting, what do you mean voting?"

"Any time after you're sixteen, you're allowed to see the film and make your choice, and then once every five years," Mandy explained to him. She looked at him frowned. "You don't know about this either?"

"Film about what?" the Doctor pressed. "About what's wrong with this place.

Fear shuddered over Mandy's face and she fell silent. Shaking his head, the Doctor pulled out the sonic screwdriver and overrode the controls. The four screen still won't play but it revealed three large buttons on a panel below the screens; two rounds one that read 'protest' and 'forget' and a large square one in the middle that read 'record'.

The Doctor meanwhile walked over and bent down to the girl's eye level. "Did you voted?"

Mandy gave him an odd look. "I'm not eligible to vote yet. I'm twelve."

"Oh, I think I can see what's going about." the Doctor said with a small laugh, and he explained as he gestured at the screen. "I can't even see the movie. Won't play for me."

Sam pursed his lips. "It won't play for me either."

"Well, the difference being the computer, doesn't accept me as human." the Doctor told them as he tried to get it work somehow.

"Why not?" Mandy asked puzzled and he turned to give her a 'Really' look. She quickly added defensively. "You look human."

"No," the Doctor shook his head. "You look Time Lord. We came first."

"Time Lord?"

"Yes. Now Mandy," the Doctor pointed the sonic screwdriver at the machines. "I assumed those who because trouble will get thrown below, huh? Well then, I guess I better getting down there." The terminal groaned and the Doctor looked over at Mandy. "Thanks for the information. Best to stay out here now."

"Oh. We're going to whatever down there, aren't we?" Sam asked him.

He smiled, rubbing his hands together. "Hold tight. We're bringing down the government."

The Time Lord slammed his hand down on the protest button and the door snapped shut, leaving Mandy outside. A small ticking noise prickling at their ears, the two of them turned their heads to see a Smiler lurking in the corner of the room had become a Scowler. Their head making the clicking noise as it turned slowly. The Doctor glanced down and then pulled Sam back with him as the floor began to slide open, revealing a long drop trough a red-lit tunnel.

Sam looked at him in shock. "Oh no."

"Oh yes!" the Doctor grinned maniacally, preparing for the fall. "Say whee!"

Sam gave one last look at the Doctor before a scream erupted in his throat as the two plummeted down into the abyss.


	10. The Woman in White Mask

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything except Sam Piper, other Doctor Who belongs to BBC.
> 
> A/N: I realized there's a bit confusing mistake and already fix it. Hopefully. I don't remember which one is this one, but I hope this is the correct on. 
> 
> Feel free to tell me because that would be really helpful.

The air cannon activated, sending them faster down a long tube. Sam yelled in a mix of fear and adrenaline-induced excitement. It was too dark to see much, but the Doctor caught flashes of low red lights as Sam barely had time to glance down as the two of them fell through the hole, sliding down into the Below. A smell hit his nose and he grimaced, suddenly having a thought of what was waiting for them.

The tunnel stopped and they fell onto a fairly soft, but stinky and a pile of something soft and disgusting. Sam looked at his hand and grimaced, as he plummeted out of the tube, into a disgusting of wet, and smelly slime waste. He had to force the bile in his throat down when he smells the place. Sam groaned, standing up and wincing at his wet jim-jams. He looked down, eyes wide as he now remembered he was still in his jim-jams, well at least it wasn't his good shirt, although there's a possibility of him burning these particular jim-jams.

"Hello! Alright?" the Doctor gleefully, already standing though he was covered in yuck. He started scanning with his screwdriver. "High speed air cannon. Lousy way to travel!"

"You're telling me," Sam moaned in disgust as he looked around. "Where are we?"

"Six hundred feet down, twenty miles laterally, put us at the heart of the ship. I'd say." He inhaled deeply. "Lancashire. What's this then, a cave? Can't be a cave. Looks like a cave."

"Just say it. We're in a dump!" Sam told him. "And it's minging!" He added, throwing a piece of trash at him.

"Yes, but only food refuse," the Doctor replied, un-phased. He sniffed again. "Organic, coming from feeder tubes all over the ship."

Sam slipped in the muck. "The floor's all squidgy, like a water bed."

The Doctor nodded distractedly. "But feeding what, though?"

"I'm sorry, did you say feeding?"

The Doctor opened his mouth to speak a replied when a deep groan echoed around them. It was too loud and shook the whole room. Their eyes widened and held back a sigh as the Doctor eyes grow wide as he realized where they were.

"Oh. Er," the Doctor trailed off a bit nervously in somewhat panicked voice. "We're in a mouth."

"A mouth?"

"Yeah, a mouth," the Doctor told him. He looked around as his excitement clearly getting the better of him. "So it's not a floor, but it's a tongue."

"This is a mouth," Sam stated, starting to wander away. "I'm in a mouth. I'm wearing one of my best jim-jams, and I am inside a mouth."

"Yes. Yes, but on the plus side, it's very roomy." the Doctor said spreading his arms wide.

"Not a plus side," Sam pointed out. "Because that just means this thing has to be huge!"

"How big is this beastie? It's gorgeous!" the Doctor proclaimed, taking out his sonic again. "His childlike excitement showed through as he examined their surroundings. "Blimey! If this is just the mouth, I'd love to see the stomach!"

Another large groan came from down in the creature's throat. The two of them froze in place again. "Although, right now probably a bad idea." he added.

"Doctor, how do we get out?" Sam demanded.

"Okay," the Doctor began slowly as he squelched about and pointed his sonic around, "It's being fed through surgically implanted feeder tubes, so the normal entrance is," He stopped as he walked over to where his sonic had taken him and Sam's face fell as he saw what he'd seen. He murmured. "Close for business."

The two of the stared at a large set of teeth. Huge, momentous, sharp, and glistening from the saliva that covered the floor also not forgot to mention, clenched shut. Sam shuddered a little at the size and pointedness of the teeth. The cavernous mouth started to shake, releasing more moans and groans as it threw the two around.

"It's started!" the Doctor cried, struggling to maintain his balance.

Sam looked at him with wild eyes. "What started!?"

"Swallow reflex!" the Doctor answered as they all fell to the ground. He brought out his sonic screwdriver and scanned it on a nearby wall.

"What are you doing?" Sam cried.

"Vibrating the chemo-receptors."

"I'm sorry, chemo what?"

"The eject button!"

"Oh no!" Sam moaned, rapidly shaking his head.

The room shuddered as Sam glared at the Doctor for the last time, before slowly turning his heads to look down at the cavernous throat. A large wave was forming, coming closer every second. A large wave of saliva, bile, and stomach acid.

"Hold on!" the Doctor called, over the roar of the approaching sick. "This is about to get a bit messy!"

A massive wave of darkness came up from the back of the mouth. What was happening hit Sam as much as he wanted to yell at the Doctor, he clamped his mouth and eyes closed. The wave hit him hard in the back and the smell almost made him sick. He was swept forward and held back a whimper before knocking him unconscious.

0o0

Sam blinked rapidly and groaned. He was lying on a cold hard floor, nothing compared to the tongue and filthy garbage he had last lied in. Suddenly, the past few minutes raced into his mind, he had blacked out when the wave of bile hit them. As he realized this, someone was holding his shoulder and then turned his head. The tip of the sonic screwdriver was sending light into his eyes.

"No concussion," the Doctor said. He looked nervous. "Sorry about that, Sam. The swallow reflex had already kicked in."

"Couldn't we have cut our way through the teeth," Sam grumbled.

"Oh let's not harm the poor thing," the Doctor scolded lightly. "You feeling alright?"

Before he could respond, a sickening smell hit Sam's nose. He opened his mouth to gasp in disgust but quickly closed it when he felt a dribbling of the creature's sick enter. He laid back on his side and started to heave. When he finished, he clutched his head as the world finally swam back into view.

"I'll take that as a no." the Doctor said apologetically, starting to rubbing his back. "There, there. You're alright. A little bit sick never hurt anyone."

"Are you positive?" Sam asked him, He wiped away any leftover vomit from his mouth.

He smiled at him gently. "Nine-hundred years of experience me. I'm pretty sure of it, now come on! Upsy daisy!" Slowly as he could, the Doctor gently lifted Sam to his feet, attempting not to fall and slipped.

"Where are we?" Sam asked, as he looked around the room.

"Overflow pipe," the Doctor explained. "They've got this thing linked up to dozens of tubes for everything."

"Oh, blimey it stinks!" Sam said with a scrunched up nose. He hesitantly sniffed his clothes and drew back in a hurry.

"Well, I guess we know that's not the pipe," the Doctor said, gleefully.

"That's smell is never coming out of these clothes."

"They're just clothes." the Doctor chided. "The TARDIS probably has five outfits just like that in wardrobe."

"Okay, whatever. Can we get out?" Sam asked, annoyed.

"One door, one door switch, one condition," the Doctor answered. He moved to the side a bit to show the twins the button on the door. "We forgot everything we saw. Look familiar? That's the carrot." The lights overhead, which had previously been dim, suddenly came on to reveal two Smilers sitting in their booths at the end of the corridor. "And that's the stick. There's creature living in the heart of this ship. What's it doing there?" The faces spun around to show that they were mad.

"No," the Doctor shook his head. "That's not going to work on me, so come on. Big old beast below decks, and everyone who protests gets shoved down it's throat. That's how it works?" The faces spun to show their pissed off, angry expression. "Oh, stop it. I'm not leaving and I'm not forgetting and what are you fellows going to do about it? Stick out your tongues?"

"Doctor!" Sam snapped, but it was too late. The booths opened up and the Smilers started to walk towards them. The Doctor shoved Sam behind him and the two backed up away from the approaching robots.

Suddenly, the door opened behind them, made them all snaps their heads. Standing there was none other than the same woman he met earlier, this time without her mask. In her hands were guns and she immediately shot the Scowlers. They quickly moved out of the way, as the Doctor grabbed Sam and pulled him to the other side. In three shots, she took the Scowlers down, sparking as they fell. She gracefully spun the gun around her finger, and placed it back in its holster.

"Hello." the Doctor greeted. His shoulders tensed at her presence, still not trusting the woman fully. "You look a lot better without your mask, should keep it that way."

"You must be Sam Piper!" the woman said as she walked over to the boy. "Heard a lot about you growing up."

"Er, hi." Sam said in confusion and the woman smiled.

"Sorry, Piper?" the Doctor frowned at her then glanced at him. "Piper?"

"Yeah?" Sam said, completely confused. "My last name's Piper."

"Sam Piper. Piper, a bit weird isn't it? Who would have a last name Piper?" the Doctor said. He grinned. "Still it does role nice in the tongue. Sam Piper. Sam Piper. Sam Piper. Although it also rhyme a bit with Pepper, can I call you that? Sam Pepper."

"No! Definitely not." Sam told him. He rolled his eyes annoyed by the Doctor behaviour. "Can we move on now?"

"Blimey they're right, you are strange." the woman said, she looked at the Doctor with an amused smiled. "You both look dreadful, shame about the sick," She added. Then she turned and put one arm around Mandy. "You know Mandy, yeah? She's very brave."

"How'd you find us?" the Doctor asked stepping forward.

"Stuck my gizmo on you." she replied simply, tossing him some sort of gadget. "Been listening in. Nice moves on the hurl escape. So, what's the big fella doing here?"

"You're over sixteen, you've voted," the Doctor said sharply. "Whatever this is, you've chosen to forget about it."

She shook her head as she defended herself, crossing her arms over her chest. "No. Never forgot, never voted, not technically a British subject."

"Then who and what are you?" the Doctor asked. He stared intently at her. "How do you know me?"

"You're a bit hard to miss, love." Liz replied in amusement. She began to list. "Mysterious stranger, M.O, consistent with higher alien intelligence." She glanced up. "Hair of an idiot."

"Oi!" the Doctor protested. He quickly coming through his slimed hair, feeling self-conscious.

"I've been brought up on the stories," she went on, in an awe now. "My whole family was."

"Your family?"

A clicking sound behind them made Sam turn around. The sliced up pieces of the Scowlers were knitting themselves back together.

"They're repairing," she explained. "Doesn't take them long. Let's move." Wanting to get as far away from the Scowlers as possible, the group hurriedly headed out of the overspill pipe.

She explained further as they walked. "The Doctor, old drinking buddies of Henry XII. Tea and scones with Liz II. Vicky was a bit on the fence about you, weren't she? Knighted and exiled you on the same day. Course, given what Torchwood did, I can't say that she had much understanding of what she was getting into."

"Hasn't happened to me yet," the Doctor said quickly as he followed her.

"Really?" the woman said, as she raised an eyebrow. "What about William Shakespeare and Lord Byron, you were a muse to them. Then again probably it was because Liz I, can't believe you would do that on her regime."

It clicked simultaneously for him. "Liz Ten!" he exclaimed.

"Liz Ten, yeah. Elizabeth the Tenth." Liz Ten replied. "And down!" At her command, they dropped to the ground while she fired upon the Smilers. "I'm the bloody Queen, mate. Basically, I rule."

Sam looked at her with an awe looked at his face. The Queen winked at him. "Took the spaceman a little while didn't it?" she asked.

The Doctor let out a large huff, as he helped Sam up.

"Come on then," she continued. "Won't be long before they rebuild. This way."


	11. The Oblivious Queen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hi! This is a bit short, isn't it? Sorry, I got no idea a bit and of course I sorta tired but I wanna updated it.

"There's a high speed Vator through there." Liz Ten explained once the two arrived in the proper room, tightly locking the door.

The space was oddly lit, coming off nearly red. The left wall was lined with bars, cell that were holding back more of the creature's appendages. They resembled a type of claw, or the end of a scorpion's tail, beat against the bars rhythmically, as the clang echoing madly. The Doctor walked right up, nearly sticking his head through the bar who seemed to look pained.

"Oh yeah," Liz started as she watched him. "There's these things. Any idea?"

Sam walked near the Doctor. "Doctor, I saw one of these up top. There was a hole in the road, it had burst through the root."

"Exactly like a root." the Doctor explained as he examined the readings on his sonic. He looked back the tentacles as he murmured. "It's all one creature, the same one we were inside, reaching out. It must be growing through the mechanism of the entire ship."

He trailed off a little as he stared at the tentacles.

"What?" Liz asked him, puzzled. "Like an infestation?"

The Doctor nodded slightly.

"Someone's helping it. Feeding it. Feeding my subjects to it." Liz spat angrily as she pushed past and walked down the corridor. "Come on. Got to keep." She called back to them, still angry as Mandy followed.

Sam paused as the Doctor didn't move, "Doctor?" he asked as he tugged the Doctor gently.

"Sam, what does this look like to you?" the Doctor asked quietly.

Sam turned to look at the tentacles as they rammed against the bars desperately. She frowned as it dawned on her. "It looks like, whatever it was, trying to break free."

He nodded.

"But why?" Sam asked quietly, confused. "It's being fed, and these bars aren't exactly holding it in."

The Doctor didn't reply. His face darkens as he looked at the creature with sadness in his eyes and fury written in his face. "This is wrong."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked, his voice trembled in fear.

"We need to first find why, and then find a way to put an end to this." the Doctor replied grimly. He walked away from the bars.

Sam watched him walked away, biting his lip. He turned to look back at the creature one more time. That's when he heard it again, the screaming. Someone or something was crying out in pain and agony. The sound was unbearable. Sam stood there, looking at the things trashing around as he held back a groan when the sound made his head pounding in pain. He pays no attention to his surrounding, the feeling of sadness and fear washed over him, made him freeze in terror. Whatever the creature was, it was in excoriating pain.

"Sam?" the Doctor called him. He was now standing beside him. "Are you alright?"

He nodded at him.

"Then why are you crying?" the Doctor asked him quietly. He put a hand to the boy face and wiped his cheek.

"I-I don't know." Sam told him. His voice hoarse.

"You can heart it can't you?" the Doctor looked directly at him. He holds the boy shoulder looking at something. "You can hear it crying out in agony."

He nodded at him again.

"Sam. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." the Doctor said while he pulled the boy towards him and held him close. "We should never have come here." He whispered at his ear.

0o0

In short, the two of them finally arrived in the large bedroom of Liz Ten. The bedroom was somewhat ordinary, despite Liz being a queen. The bad had blank white sheets and a small gold and red canopy, but other than that, there was nothing else inside the crème coloured room. The only thing that was out of the ordinary was the forty or fifty water glasses lining the floor.

"Why all the glasses?"

"To remind me every single day." Liz turned solemn. "That my government is up to something and it's my duty to find out what." She watched the Doctor carefully as he walked back out, noticing something else. He bent down and picked up Liz's white mask and held it out in interest.

"A queen going undercover to investigate her own kingdom?" the Doctor muttered softly, before placing it in the same place.

"Secrets are being kept from me." Liz replied sharply. "I don't have a choice. Ten years, I've been at this. My entire reign, and you've achieved more in one afternoon."

The Doctor was pacing before the foot of her bed. He was looking down at the ground pensively, deep in thought. He slowed down as he asked slowly. "How old were you when you came to the throne?"

"Come on, Doctor." the Queen chuckled at him. "Even you have to know it's impolite to ask a lady's age."

"Alright then." the Doctor said, as he clicked his mouth. "How old were you when you came to the throne?"

She paused, deliberating answering before saying, "Forty. Why?"

"But that can't be right." Sam frowned. He looked at the woman. "You don't look old."

"Oh! That's quite offensive comment from you Sir Piper. I'll have you hang for that." Liz told him.

"Sorry."

"I'm joking," Liz chuckled at the boy. "They slowed my body clock. Keeps me looking like the stamps.

"And you always wear this in public?" the Doctor asked, referring to the porcelain mask.

"Undercover's not easy when you're me." Liz defended. "The autographs, the bunting."

The Doctor was only half paying attention however, focused on the mask. "Air-balanced porcelain. Stays on by itself, because it's perfectly sculpted to your face."

"Yeah? So what?"

"It's antique," the Doctor said. He reached for the mask and ran a finger over the surface. "This porcelain is old."

"Course it is," Liz told him, half laughed. "It's been in the family for years, but there are more important things. There's a creature at the heart of my ship on purpose."

"The spaceship that could never fly. No vibration on deck." the Doctor eyes narrowed on Liz Ten. He looked around the room. "You're right. There is more important thing we need to finds out. We need to get to the control room. I need to verify something."

The main door suddenly swung open. A number of the black cloaked men that chase them away strode into the room as an older man with white hair stepped inside. They weren't Smilers exactly, but parts of the creepy machines had been grafted onto them. It was one of the creepier things that Sam had seen in a long time.

"What are you doing? How are you come in here?" Liz Ten snapped. The Queen drew Mandy back behind her.

"Ma'am, you have expressed interest in the interior working of Star-ship UK," the leader said, staring straight to the Doctor. He turned to her. "You will come with us now."

"Why would I do that?" Liz Ten challenged, joining the group by the door. There was a clanking and the man's head began to turn around as the demonic face of a Smiler was revealed, bolted to the back of the man's head.

"Half Smiler, half human." the Doctor said, his tone was cold. "Fantastic."

Liz leaned in and snarled at the first Men-Smiler. "Whatever you creatures are; I am still your queen. On whose authority is this done?" She demanded.

"The highest authority, Ma'am."

"I am the highest authority."

"Yes, ma'am. You must go now, ma'am."

"Where?"

"The Tower, ma'am."

The Smiler turned around, walked back into the hallway, pausing when no one followed it. "We must go now, ma'am."

Sam gave the Doctor a worried glanced, every bone in his body telling him to run. He looked back and gave him a comforting nod as he took his hand. "Let's go." he said. "Better lead the way then."

Quickly, the group of Smilers lead the rest of the group out of the door. The gnawing fear in Sam's stomach started to settle once and the Doctor gave his hand a squeeze in comfort. He smiled down at him, suddenly reminding himself that Sam was just a child. His first travel, and he got the awful side of the universe shown to him. Deep inside, the Doctor felt regrets washed over him as he kept walking, following the group.


	12. The Beast Below

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Doctor Who, but I still can claim my own original character as my property.
> 
> A/N: This chapter for me is quite intense. Of course as you read it, the dialogue can be quite different because it is said by a different Doctor so the reaction and dialogue should be change to match the Tenth Doctor's personality. The impulsive, and the anger of the reaction would be different, well not so different as they are all the same alien.

Following the group of Smilers-hybrid, they were led through more dark tunnels. Above their heads, Sam could hear the hum of the city and a low drone of voices and machines. Sam had a tight grip on the Doctor's left hand and the Doctor kept glancing back at him. Sadly, the corridor wasn't wide enough for them to hold hands as well. The boy was silent as they walked, but looked back at the odd half Smiler creature behind them. He spotted Mandy behind the Queen and saw her ashen face as she followed them, trying to find the truth behind what happened to her friend.

Liz Ten kept trying to get the man, but he kept saying that something was waiting for her at the Tower. They kept going lower and lower. The journey may have taken minutes, or it may have taken hours, but after even more hallways and stairs. Finally, they entered a room full of machines, and screens. An older man stood in the middle of the room, a resigned expression on his face.

"Where are we?" Sam asked.

"The lowest point of Star-ship UK." the Doctor told him. He let go of his hand as he said with a fake dramatic flair. "The dungeon."

"Ma'am." the old man greeted. He was wearing a similar black cloak and lowered his hood as he approached.

"Hawthorne?" Liz asked, surprised. "So this is where you hid yourself away. I think you've got some explaining to do."

The Doctor watched as a group of children around Sam's and Mandy's age, all looking tired and drained, passed them. Mandy could be seen holding her shirt in fear as she checked on the children who passed them, and none of them were her friends Tim. She looked at Sam who looked around too, and saw there's no sign of her friends, she was about to cry when Sam's suddenly held her hand in comfort.

"There's children down here. What's all that about?" the Doctor demanded, his voice gaining an edge to it.

"Protestors and citizen of limited value are fed to the Beast. For some reason, it won't eat children. You're the first adult it spared, or it's probably because of the child. But you're very lucky." Hawthorne truly sounded amazed, which only made the Doctor's blood turn cold.

"Yes lucky. Torture chamber of the Tower of London," the Doctor snarled, giving the man a cold look. "So very lucky." Hawthorne flinched at the words, and Liz Ten looked confused. The Doctor marched forward. "Depends on how you look at things." He finished as he leaned over the railing surrounding the opening.

There in the opening of the room was exposed folded flesh of brain. It was pulsating rapidly with giant electrodes pointed right at it.

"Is that?" Sam trailed off and swallowed. He finally understood, the crying, the screaming, the pain that he heard.

"Well like I say," the Doctor replied darkly. "It depends on the angle. It's either the exposed pain centre of big fella's brain, being tortured relentlessly."

"Or?" Liz asked.

"Or it's the gas pedal, the accelerator. Star-ship UK's go faster button."

"I don't understand." Liz replied.

"Try go on," the Doctor started walking over to her. "The spaceship that could never fly, no vibrations on desk. This creature-this poor, tortured, terrified creature. It's not infesting you, it's not invading you! It's what you have instead of an engine!" He glared at Hawthorne, moving closer. "And this place down here is where you hurt it, where you torture it, day after day, just to keep moving."

"No." Liz said, her voice trembled. "That can't be right. We're not a full monarch anymore, people would know, people would vote-"

"Your voting system is a sham!" the Doctor snapped. "Don't pretend otherwise. People know they'll die if they protest, well if they aren't thousands of years in the past. What you're doing up there is keeping people in check through fear. Tell you what, normally it's above the range of human hearing. This is the voices that you should be hearing." He waved the sonic screwdriver at one of the tentacles.

A horrible screaming sound filled the room. Cries from the creature echoed in the dungeon as the Doctor continued to point his sonic, increasing the frequency so that they could hear as the creature's sounds become a long single scream of complete agony and pain. Sam's eyes filled with tears, and the sound continued. Liz, Mandy, and all flinched, stepping back as though the sound hurting them physically-which it some ways, it should.

Liz bowed her head and begged. "Stop it."

The Doctor gaze never wavered as he glared at Liz, and his arm didn't lower. His shoulders were tense, his eyes were ice cold and pained. He didn't move, he wanted to make them all understand what they were doing to this creature. Wanted to make them pay of what they've done, to feel the pain that being erupted from the scream every single time they tortured the creature. Justifying themselves, by making an excuse for them to fly and searched the universe as the creature keep on screaming in pain. So now it's their turn, their turn to feel the creature pain, their turn to listen and remembered of what they had done. To listen of the pain that they have caused, the act of vengeance that they deserved. They all deserved.

"Doctor." Sam whimpered. He begged softly as he gripped his hand. "Please stop."

He glanced over the boy, and took one look at his heart-broken expression snapped out of his anger-filled daze as he lowered his arm. Walking over quickly, he mentally slapped himself as he forgot how he was not the only one who heard the screaming. He wanted to took him into his arms, but the boy flinched slightly at the Time Lord, fear and sadness plastered to his face. The screaming stopped and everybody uncovered their ears, but the screams still echoed in their minds.

"I'm. Sorry." the Doctor said softly towards the boy as he kept his distance away from him.

Liz staggered a little as she walked forward, glaring at Hawthorne. "Who did this?"

"We act on instructions." Hawthorne answered. He lowered his eyes. "From the highest authority."

"I am the highest authority."

Hawthorne's lip twitched a little, turned into a grim thin smile. Liz saw it and her eyes narrowed. She ordered flatly. "The creature will be released now."

When no one moved, she said angrily as tears threatening to fall. "I said now!"

"You have standing orders." the Doctor said. He stepped away from a moment. "Standing orders that men certain things have to happen first."

"What are you talking about?"

"Your mask, Liz."

"What about my mask?"

"Look at it." the Doctor told her. He gives the mask to her. "It's old, at least two hundred years old, I'd say."

"Yeah? It's an antique. So?"

"An antique made by craftsmen over wo hundred years ago and yet it's somehow perfectly sculpted to your face?" the Doctor looked at her sympathetically. "They did slow your body clock, but more than you know. You're not fifty, you're nearer three hundred, and it's been along old reign."

"No, it's ten years. I've been on this throne ten years," she assured, more to herself than to anyone else in the room.

"Ten years, and the same ten years over and over again." the Doctor nodded. He took her hand pulling her along. "Always leading you, here." He pulled her to a small voting area. Only these choices were  _forget_ or  _abdicate._

"Because you are right, there's something wrong. So you investigate," the Doctor told her. His voice soft. "You learn the truth, and just like your subjects, you choose to forget."

"What have you done?" Liz asked in a broken whisper.

"Only what you have ordered." Hawthorne replied grimly. "We work for you, Ma'am. The winders," he nodded at the half-man, half-smilers guarding the room. "The Smilers, all of us."

The screen flickered on and Liz Ten herself appeared on the screen. "If you watching this. If I am watching this, then I have found my way to the Tower of London. The creature you are looking at is called a Star Whale. Once there were millions of them. They lived in the depths of space and, according to legend, guided the early space travellers through the asteroid belts. This one, as far as we aware, is the last of its kind. And what we have done to it breaks my heart."

"The Earth was burning. Our sun had turned on us and every other nation had fled to the skies. Our children screamed as the skies grew hotter, and it came. Like a miracle. The last of the Star Whales. We trapped it, we built our ship around it, and we rode on its back to safety. If you wish our voyage to continue, then you must press the Forget button. Be again the heart of this nation, untainted. If not, press the other button. Your reign will end, the Star Whale will be released, and our ship will disintegrate. I hope to keep the strength to make the right decision."

The video stopped, and Liz ten stood stunned in front of the controls. The Doctor's eye swept through the room, and he scowled at them.

"People voted for this." Sam said in a shaky voice. He turned his attention to the Doctor. "Why would they do that? Why would they make people vote, if they're just going to choose forget?"

"Democracy in action." the Doctor said flatly. "People started questioning thing, wanted the truth. Resulting the people in control have to tell them the truth, and finally they understand, they know it's wrong but then when they faced with impossible choice. To protest or to forget. They would choose to forget, choose to walk away from the truth and lives their life. Living in oblivion, rather than doing the right thing. Of course there are people who would do the right thing, and those people will grow." He looked at the humans saying with quite anger. "And to stop them growing, is to feed them through the creature. Spreading fear in the society, without them knowing the real truth how them had done the most brutal crime in the universe."

"What are we going to do?" Sam asked him. He could see the turned off his face replaced by grief.

"Three choices." the Doctor said. He walked over to the control panel. "We let this continue the way it has for three hundred more years. We ended the program and let Star-ship UK break up to save the Star Whale." There was a collective gasped around the room. "Or." He pulled the sonic screwdriver. "Or I pass a massive electrical charge through the Star Whale's brain to leave it vegetable. It'll kill it, but at least it won't be in agony and you lot will still can continue your journey."

"We can't kill it!" Sam snapped. "There has to be another way."

"Look, Sam." the Doctor hissed. "I can either kill or everyone on this ship, or I murder a beautiful," He winched as he said in agonized voice, "Innocent creature as painlessly as I can."

He turned back to the monitors.

"And then," he added as he ran an agitated hand through his hair, "I find a new name, because I won't be the Doctor anymore."

"There must be something we can do," Liz murmured sadly. "Some other way."

"Nobody talk to me." the Doctor said darkly. "Nobody," He slammed his hands on the desk as he looked at them and snarled furiously. "Human has anything to say to me today!"

Liz and the others closed their mouths, unable to say anything to that. The Doctor paused for a second as he saw Sam's face. He felt a twinge of regret at his words as he saw the ashen look on his face, the hurt that flashed across his face before he looked down at his shoes. The Time Lord turned away too, in disgust, unable to bear looking at the other humans in the room.

His feeling of the dark anger and disgust he felt for the human race at this moment didn't beat the feeling of regret and ashamed that he was going to do; taking the hard decision, because no one else would do it. And so he worked in silence, while Liz drew away as Sam and Mandy took a sitting in the corner of the room, watching the Doctor work.

The door to the tower opened, and a group of children walked in. Mandy glanced over before calling happily.

"Timmy!" She ran to her friends. "You made it, you're okay. It's me, Mandy."

Slowly Sam made his way over to them. Once he arrived, he realized how unresponsive Timmy was.

"Timmy! Timmy!" Mandy said quickly as she tugged the boy arm. "This is Sam. He helped me to find you."

But the boy was looking at something else. One of the whale's feelers was hovering, poised at Mandy. Sam watched as it moved forward, gently tapping the girl on the shoulder. Strange thing about the creature was that, it didn't hurt her. It wasn't angry. The feeler acted as a pet, excited to see it's master home for work. It also didn't hurt him when he found one earlier, only brushed his cheek slowly and didn't attack to hurt him. He was running because of the dark cloak people that were chasing Mandy and him. But not because of the Star Whale. Suddenly it occurred to Sam, the Star Whale can and would just destroy the ship whenever it wants, but it didn't; it chooses to stay in the first place.

"Doctor stop!" Sam called, rushing him. He didn't acknowledge him, he just continued with his work. "Whatever you're doing, stop it now!" Forcefully, Sam grabbed him by his arms, but the Doctor didn't flinch.

Without any choice, he went to the second option. "Sorry, Your Majesty. Going to need a hand." He dragged Liz over to the buttons as he slammed Liz's hand down on the 'Abdicate' button.

"No! Sam!" the Doctor shouted behind him.

But it was too late. An almighty roar and the whole ship shook, for a few seconds the whole shipped shook. Both Sam and Liz Ten were thrown to the floor as the ship shook. There was a moment's pause where everyone stood in shock.

"Sam," the Doctor said in terror. "What have you done."

"Nothing at all." Sam replied. He turned to the others. "Am I right?"

The advisor to Liz spoke up in awe, "We've increased speed."

"Yeah well, you've stop torturing the pilot. Got to help." Sam retorted. He sighed in relief when he realized the screaming was gone as well.

Liz shook her head in confusion. "It's still here. I don't understand."

"It's not that hard actually," Sam said. He smiled softly at them. "The Star Whale didn't come like a miracle all those years ago. It volunteered. You didn't have to trap it or torture it. Like you said, the children were screaming. It heard them and decided to help. It came because it couldn't stand to watch your children cry."

"That was a dangerous bet to make." Liz pointed out. "How could you be sure?"

"The Star Whale stayed, even after all that. It won't shake the ship apart because there are still children that need it. Even if it hurts so much, screaming in pain, it would stay that long. Despite everything you have done to it, the Star Whale keep flying to keep them safe." Sam told her softly. "And really, think about it. It won't eat the children, or hurt them."

"I-I understand now." Liz said softly, turning her gaze from the brain to the playful arm. She smiled though it was haunted. Haunted with all the knowledge that she and her people had tortured this poor creature needlessly. She felt the Star Whale tap her on the shoulder and nudge her, a gentle hum went through her, one that she instantly recognizes as forgiveness. Tears started to pour as she cried into her knees, feeling kindness from the Star Whale even after all they had done.

Sam smiled. Everything was going to be okay. He looked back to see the Doctor had disappeared.


	13. Gotcha

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Doctor Who except my original character, which is Sam.
> 
> A/N: So... If you're not a Ten/Rose shipper, than you'll probably hate this but then again if you ship them you hate me too.  
> Also! Thank you Discworld to give me this bit of inspiration :)

A while later, Sam found himself standing outside the Tower of London as he saw Liz Ten ordered a new rule to her advisor. Beside her, there was Mandy, Timmy and the other group of people who were waiting for their parents picking them up. He looked around, the screaming has stopped, and everything went back to as if nothing had happened. But his thought went back to the Doctor, is this what he does every single time? Making hard decision, not just traveling and saving them. That's was a hard job to do, what would if he was traveling alone? Would his decision always right? Or it would not.

"Sam?" he heard a small voice call. Mandy looked at him with sad eyes. "Are you leaving?"

"Yeah, I mean. My ride won't be here forever."

"Will we see you again?"

"I don't know. I hope so."

Quickly, Mandy gave him a chaste kiss on the cheek, making him froze awkwardly not knowing what to do. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Sam told her.

They just gave each other wide grins before Mandy took off with Timmy by the hand.

"Looks like someone has their way on girls," Liz told him as she stood, teasing him.

"I-I Uh-"

Suddenly, Liz Ten pulled him into a hug. Sam stiffened and in a minute relaxed under her embrace, laughing softly as Liz twisted his back and forth, he haven't got a lot of hugs and wasn't used to the feeling either and it felt nice.

"You were amazing." the Queen said. "Now you keep that Doctor in line. He'll listen to you." By the end of her voice was in a whisper.

"Liz." Sam pulled back. "How do you know us?"

The woman didn't respond, only smirking at him and nodding his head to where the Doctor was. "Just keep him in line. Don't let our name go to waste, alright?" She continued with a wink, pulling out something from behind her back. Sam smiled at the sight of the porcelain mask.

"A parting gift." Liz said, gently putting it into his hands. "As Queen, I have a duty to make sure no secrets are kept on the Star-ship UK. Plus, it's a little something to remember us by."

"Thank you." Sam said to her.

"You're very welcome Sir Piper."

Carefully, Sam ran the mask over his petite hands, smiling to himself as the memories of the day passed through his mind, even if started with sorrow. In the end, everything went alright, although there might be a bit bumped in the middle, and he also got a cool porcelain mask as a gift. He gave a relived sighed as he jogged to the observation halls, trying to find the Doctor.

0o0

Standing alone, the Doctor stopped in front of the windows. Beyond the window, there were stars, planets they were passing, and a nebula. He could see skyscrapers with glittering lights. Everything was surrounded by a soft glow. Shaking his head, the Doctor reminded himself while he disapproved of the leadership and many of their choices, most of the people here were just trying to get by. He understood what that looked like, they didn't deserve his anger.

A familiar memory fill through his memory, listening to the soft echo of the heels of his chucks against the tile as he makes himself exhale. It helped to dispel the anger and instead he looked down at the city. He remembered a certain pink and yellow human that was on his side while looking at the sight of her Earth burning, the trip was supposed to see what would her reaction could be if she watches her world burn but the moment they arrived, he thought how awful the idea was, he was supposed to travel with her not scared her away. But to his surprise, she stayed, even after he told her about what happened to his planet and how dangerous the trip is, she was just brushed it off and told him that she was there with him as they went off to eat chips.

That's not what's going on his trip with his new companion. The trip went all disastrous as they landed, and the boy have to saw the darker side of humanity and him that he didn't want to show. It was supposed to be an easy holiday trip in the ship, but of course he can't exactly choose. Of course it was a bad idea at the first place to bring a tenth years old on a trip with him, he should've known that but of course he was stubborn to himself.

"You know you've always got a bit of a temper, you left them all in a grand state," a familiar voice said beside her. He turned around a familiar blonde was stood right beside her with a warm smile he was familiar with. "Alright?"

"Good." the Doctor told her. Looking up Rose, met his brown gaze and smiled. "Maybe a bit better since you're here Rose Tyler."

"A bit of a flirt you are now." Rose teased, giving him a tongue on teeth smile. "Love the hair too, miss the ear though."

"You miss the ears?"

"Of course."

"Thought you don't like the ears," the Doctor told her. He reached out to his own and tugged it, feeling self-conscious all of the sudden.

"Oh don't be daft, I love them." Rose smiled. She brushed his side slightly. "I will always love them all, leather you, big hairy brown hair you, even if you changed and have silver hair, giant lizard, or change into a woman."

The Doctor closed his eyes, placing his own hand on hers. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Rose said. Her hands cupped his cheek. "You keep on traveling, keep helping people and you keep on being My Doctor. Keep on traveling with people you choose, just please be in time when you take him back on Earth, don't want him to questioned your special driving ability."

"Oi!" the Doctor indignantly said. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Twelve month instead of twelve hours." Rose told him. She pointed out. "Sam's really nice, he's smart too, going to be jeopardy friendly he is. I can tell." She gave him a tongue on teeth smile, teasing him. "Saved the whole spaceship on one trip. Blimey, even I didn't manage that on the first go."

"He could have killed everyone on this ship." the Doctor said sternly.

"You could have killed a Star Whale." Rose retorted.

"And he saved it." the Doctor sighed. He ran a hand through his hair as he looked pointedly at the stars. "I know, I know."

Rose stared out with him before she commented. "Amazing though, don't you think? The Star Whale. All that pain and misery, and loneliness, but it just made it kind." She looked at him pointedly. "Sounds a bit familiar?"

Rose grinned as she reached out and pulled him into a hug. The Doctor smiled and embrace her while she slid her arms around his neck. In the next moment, her feet were off the floor as he hummed happily and inhaled the smell of strawberry shampoo mix with a bit mint, and chips. He outright this time and tightened his grip as he felt himself melt against him and happy to held her at the moment and let the last of his anger drain away. Rose chuckled into his ear.

"Gotcha."

"Doctor?" Sam voice was hesitant. He saw the Time Lord kept staring out into the star light sky, "You left the room for a while so she didn't get her chance to give you this." He held out the porcelain Liz's Ten mask. "From Her Majesty. She says there will be no more secrets on Star-ship UK."

"How sure were you?" the Doctor asked, he kept his gaze firm in his window. He didn't sound angry at all, just curious.

"Sure?" Sam asked, as he frowned. "About what?"

"About the Star Whale."

"Completely sure, I guess." Sam answered. He smiled at him. "You did tell me to pay attention on everything."

"Sam," the Doctor said. He was using the same tone he was familiar with when he got into trouble. "You could have killed everyone on this ship."

"I'm sorry." Sam whispered. He looked down at his shoes in guilt.

"But you saved it." the Doctor said. Turning his head, he looked down at the boy who was now looking at him confused, and offered him a soft smile. "What you did was fantastic Sam Piper. Although the method a bit surprising, a bit need of discussion next time you have a great idea."

"I promise to talk with you first if I get good idea for saving the world," Sam told him, giving him a little smirk.

"Was that so hard?"

Sam grinned as the Doctor laughed outright this time, the anger completely washed out of him and turned into a giddy giggle. They stayed for a while until finally found their back to the London Market. It was full of cheering people, streamers were being thrown in the air and the entire atmosphere had changed. Sam didn't know what had been announced, but things felt better already. The TARDIS stood in its corner and the Doctor pulled out his key with his left hand.

"I wonder if they'll ever give the Star Whale a name," the Doctor murmured as he unlocked the TARDIS door. "Maybe the Great A'Tuin. That would be brilliant."

"Great what?" Sam asked, confused.

"Great A'Tuin? Big giant turtle who carried the whole universe in the back with four elephants immense that rest on the shoulder?" the Doctor told him. He only looked at the boy getting more confused as he tugged his ear. "Discworld? No?"

Sam grimace. "No. Well, our teacher told us to read it but I don't like it, not really a fan of reading."

"You don't like reading?"

Sam shook his head and the Doctor gaped at him aghast. "But-but, it's brilliant. Authors way with words, and books that made you cried, surprised, and scared. Absolutely brilliant!"

"I just can't really sit still and read," Sam shrugged as he told him. "There's also sometimes found the whole words thing confusing, like Shakespeare."

The Doctor continued to gape at him aghast.

"Sorry?" he offered the apology somewhat bemused by his reaction to his dislike of reading.

The Time Lord clicked his jaw shut as he finally pulled himself out of his shock enough to stop gaping at the child, and quickly walked towards him. Sam blinked as he took his hand and started leading him inside the time machine, much to his surprise while he mumbled about how he can't believe about what he heard.

"Um, where are we going?" Sam asked, bemused.

"To the library.

"Eh?" Sam exclaimed in surprise, his eyes widening with it.


	14. Settling in The Time Machine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a wholesome adventure, it's time for Sam to take a bit of rest while the Doctor have something he needs to check on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything except my own Original Character. Everything else is own by the BBC.
> 
> A/N: I AM BACK! Although, I have a question. If you have a room inside the TARDIS, what would the room like; mine pretty much just like this fic. Because I loves small or medium size space more rather than a huge one, cause it can get lonely sometimes and I don't need a huge space to remind me of my loneliness. 
> 
> Anyway, before we go any further to the deep sad side of my rambling.  
> Also! A huge shout of the last chapter where there's a lot of notes in Rose's door idea from the drawing by annieviech tumblr account who in fact inspired from a ficlet by gallifreyburning. I wanna thank you for those two tumblrs account of the idea. 
> 
> Now! Onto the story

Moments after they first stepped inside, the Doctor opened the door and Sam all but stumbled in after him. The TARDIS hummed softly in greeting, dimming the lights slightly as if she knew about the Doctor feeling of anger and the painful screaming that echoed in his head. Exhaling a deep breath, the Doctor proceed to go inside.

"Right then," the Doctor said as he ran up the ramp to the console. "Sam Piper, we're going to the library. Not just a library, but the planet library and I can guarantee you that we're going to be there for a while to find a book for you to read. Of course the TARDIS has a library but with your idea of not liking reading, probably going to the planet library will change your mind."

Sam felt a rush of excitement, it wasn't as if he doesn't like reading but he doesn't have the ability to sit still and finished a book on time without he forgets about it and abandoned it; he wasn't really a fast reader, he was the slow reader who made a bit mistake on reading the words. But the idea visiting the planet library for him was exciting, until he felt his exhaustion return full-force. He tried to stifle a yawn, but he wasn't fast enough to hide it from the Doctor.

The Time Lord gave him an evaluating glance, expression softening as he took in how exhausted the boy looked. "On second thought, maybe you should get some sleep first.

"I'm fine." he lied as he fought to keep his expression awake.

"Sam, if you haven't already noticed, there tends to be a lot of running in my life. I'll need you awake for that." the Doctor told him, he saw the boy hesitated. "It's not like we're going to be late for anything. This is a time machine, remember? In two seconds, I can have us having lunch with Winston Churchill."

"Can we really have a lunch with Winston Churchill?" Sam asked.

"Oh yes, of course." the Doctor said with a smug tone. "He's an old friend of mine and I did owe him a lunch together, although I forgot where and when. Need to remembered that again, so I won't land on the wrong time line and muck it about, maybe I need to go as soon as possible to try avoid a paradox by meeting myself."

"Can go there now? Don't want to make any messy mess in time, after all."

"After you got your little human sleeps." the Doctor declared. He was amused as the boy groaned in disappointment his little plan didn't work. "I know what you're trying to do, leading me on and trying to make me forget about the rest you need."

"Isn't bedtime useless in a time travelling spaceship?" Sam retorted.

"Oh! Oh! Oh, you little Dalek. I knew there was a reason I like you." the Doctor chuckled as he ruffled his head lightly. "We'll go in the morning, because I am certain you are quite tired right now, don't want you suddenly fell asleep on an adventure."

"But I'm not tired." Sam whined.

"Nice try Mr. Piper but I saw that little stifle yawn you tried to hide," the Doctor scolded. He folded his arms and stood in front of the console. "Besides, we had a long day today and it's best for you to rest."

The boy finally caved. "Alright. What about you?"

"Superior Time Lord biology," the Doctor boasted. "I don't need as much sleeps as humans. I'll just throw us in the Time Vortex for the night."

With that, he turned and bounced over to the console in the centre of the room. He started circling around the console, throwing up switches, spinning dials, and pressing buttons at a whirlwind speed. It was an odd dance to be sure, but it seemed to work, for the TARDIS suddenly gave a massive shudder. Sam tried to catch himself on the railing but just ended up getting thrown to the ground, landing clumsily on his elbow.

As the shaking stopped, he let out a slight groan as he rubbed his elbow where he had landed on. "Ow."

"Sorry about that." the Doctor grimaced. He looked at him somewhat sheepish from his spot by the console. "Forgot to warned you about the little turbulence we would have, again." He threw down a final switch and the TARDIS stilled entirely. "It's normal of course, we're travelling through time and space, there's going to be a bit of a turbulence.

Privately, Sam thought it had to do more with his manic without a manual driving than the actual turbulence, but he let the matter rest.

"Right, we should be good in the Vortex for the night." the Doctor said, straightening up. "Now rooms are down the hall, four lefts and a right, pick any rooms you want that's unlocked." He told him pointing at the corridor. "If you don't find one you like, close your eyes and think of your happiest place and-" he hesitated, eyes clouding over for a moment. No doubt thinking of a happy place that no longer existed. "Well, you'll see about it later."

The boy watched him for a moment, there was a quick flashes of sadness he had shown earlier but it was gone quickly as the Doctor shoved his shoulder lightly. "Go on then, off you go. Sooner you get your beauty non-sense human sleep, sooner we get to leave."

"Alright," Sam mumbled, stifling another yawn. He walked towards the hall that had been indicated and headed out from the console room. "Good night, Doctor."

0o0

After a few confusing minutes of wandering the halls, he concluded that he was actually lost. In his defence, it was a bit confusing for him with the halls and rooms filled through the corridor. He did what the Doctor told him to do, picking any room that was opened but the rooms he can open was the garage room full with cars and bikes, storage room, swimming pool, a blank white room, butterfly room which he thought about how beautiful it was and make a little note to mention about it to the Doctor, there's also a garden room that full of roses with different colours which Sam never saw any of them back at home.

Other than that, the room was either lock, or the TARDIS shock him to not even touch them. It came as a bit of a shock at first but it didn't hurt, it came as if he was being scolded not to touch the door or don't rattle the door knobbed even further. It was a signal for him to find another room that probably won't kill him or endangered him.

There was a room that took his interest, the door looked ordinary, the same like the others rooms with metal blank door without a door knobbed or even a sort of control panel to opened it and how sad it looked, as if the room was used to be occupied by someone important; what's made it different from the other room was the notes that left in front of the room. Some of the notes were filled with words he can read, such as;

'Remind me to get the item we need for fixing the TARDIS'

'Don't forget to bring a jacket'

'Rose Tyler, meet me in the library'

'Remind me not to leave a certain captain alone ever again'

'You told me to remind you about visiting Mickey the Idiot'

There was a lot of notes that was funny, and made him giggle when he read it, he wondered if the Doctor wrote it to remind the person so the person can remind him what he need to remember. That was a neat trick and it would come in handy, especially by the look of how the Doctor could sometimes forgot and not pay attention enough in a certain situation. Going through the notes, and skipping a few ones that was written with a circular symbol he can't understand, he looked straight to what it seems the last notes that only said;

'I'm sorry.'

Taking it off, he could see how sad the note can be, how two simple words has a lot of meaning, and he had a feeling that it was written not so long ago, it was probably recent.

A beeping sound suddenly distracted him and he looked down to see the same line that he saw the first time he was here. Sticking the notes quickly, he followed the line and arrived to a sound of a door that suddenly opened for him; it was a bit creepy but really convenient and also looked like a bit something come out from some horror movies. Walking inside the pitch black room, he reached in to feel along the walls, hoping there wasn't something that suddenly grabbed him.

"Where's the light switch?" Sam asked himself, roaming around the room. He got out and looked up. "Um, is there any switch where I can turn on the light?"

In a seconds, the entire room suddenly illuminated with light. It was an ordinary bedroom, with aqua blue walls that give him a warm welcoming vibe, with a bed, a desk, and a wardrobe to put in his clothes inside while he travelled which remind him how he didn't bring any clothes and after their little adventure, he need to change his clothes. There should be a wardrobe room in this ship, the Doctor did mention that to him. Getting up, he proceeds to went for the door until a familiar clean clothes was at his bed, frowning, he grabbed it and looked around. He remembered that wasn't there a minute ago, did the TARDIS put it there. It was possible of course, she is alive after all. She probably thought that he was too tired to even found the wardrobe room and there's a possibility he would fall asleep there just finding the right shirt.

He looked up and smiled. "Thank you."

After he showered, and finally changed to a clean 'free from sick' clothes. He crawls into the bed, the minute his head hit the pillow, he was gone into a deep slumber.

0o0

The Time Lord fiddled with the controls for a moment after Sam skipped down the corridor, then stopped and glanced in the direction he'd gone, leaning against the console and frowned. There was something that has been bugging him the whole time and that's why and how his new companion could hear the cry of the Star Whale. The sound should have been the above average of a human hearing and the boy should not in any possibility to heard it.

Of course unless he wasn't completely a human being. Within seconds, the matters in his brain connected and he rushed over to the console to find any information on the boy. He quickly checked over the monitor and tried to find something odd about his biology or if there was something stood up about him that he didn't know. There probably something that even didn't catch the TARDIS scanner as he tried to redo the scanned again.

The result was nothing. There was nothing unusual about the boy at all, from the moment he stepped inside the TARDIS, she would pick up any anomaly from the boy that would alarm him and told him about themselves. All of it applied to everyone that had stepped inside, it was quite handy especially when you have a shapeshifter who shift into one of his companion, or when a companion got hurt, or if someone was there to muck something inside his beautiful time machine. But there was nothing stood out about him, only basic information such as how old he was, where he lived, and where he gone to school, or what he did for his extracurricular activity after school. There's a bit about his medical record that informed him about his asthma, and a surgery that he might need to look at later, but it wasn't something that would stood up and take his interest and the reason on why he could hear the cry of the Star Whale, although he did put a mental note to remember carrying an inhaler just in case.

And finally, he gave up and concluded that Sam Piper was only a normal human boy with probably a little bit of a telepathic fluke that won't last for a long time. Humans are a low level telepathic, and the reason that he could heard the cry was probably because it was in such pain and he pick it up with their brief meeting. It doesn't make any sense, but that what the Time Lord settled in for now.


	15. Another Day of Running Gone Wrong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor and Sam Piper landed on New Earth, but as usual, they landed on the wrong spot. What suppose to be a normal strolling day for them, turned into something worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything at all except my original character; the whole Doctor Who is the property of the BBC.
> 
> A/N: Right. I know this particular episode is place on Season 3, but then again this is an sort of alternate universe so I think I can bend the rule on that one. Besides, I think this particular stories fit well in this arc, rather than the one in season 2, because how would be un-characteristic it would be for this particular situation to used that episode. 
> 
> Anyway! I think you get it, so onto the story.

Sam woke several hours later, he wondered groggily why the room was warm than usual and looked around in panic when he realized he wasn't in his room. Then he remembered where he was and finally sighed in relief. Stretching slowly and feeling his full consciousness finally awake. Still dressed in yesterday's clothes the TARDIS gave him, Sam wondered the TARDIS's halls until he eventually found the console room again.

"Ah, Sam!" the Doctor said. He looked up when the boy came in. "Feeling better? Bright eyed and bushy tailed? Not that you have a tail, mind. If you did, then you'd look like Gravorains, they're an interesting lot. Their tales are extremely tactile. It's actually illegal to touch their tail without being married to one. I expect it has to be that way, otherwise they'd never get anything done." He smiled at the boy. "Ready for more running today?"

"Yes!" Sam exclaimed. He couldn't stop the excited grin creeping over his face, now that he was rested, he was eager to see the whole new world the Doctor had described. "Where are we going?"

"How about a different planet?" the Doctor proposed. He grinned at him over the console as he added, "We could go to basic planet you know like Mars? Or we could go to Mondas and have a coffee, do you drink coffee? Probably. Planet One would be a great idea, Akhaten great too, or maybe Calibris; wait no, not there. A bit dangerous there."

"Can we go to yours?" Sam asked him curiously.

The Doctor froze, his eyes suddenly looking far older than Sam had ever seen them before. His expression switched quickly back to his customary grin, but it didn't seem to hold the same warmth. "Ah, there's plenty of other places."

That had clearly hit some kind of nerve, he felt afraid at the moment the Doctor would be angry at him. Sam didn't want to upset him and didn't want to push any further so instead he asked, "What's it like though? I mean, we don't have to go there if you don't want, but what's it like there?"

The Time Lord expression grew wistful, several moments of silence passed before he finally began his description. "The sky's a burnt orange, with the Citadel enclosed in a mighty glass dome, shinning under the twin suns. Beyond that, the mountains go on forever. Slopes of deep red grass, capped with snow."

Sam listened with awe, trying to imagine it in his head but knowing he could never come close to what the Doctor was seeing in his. "It sounds beautiful," he whispered.

"Yeah," the Doctor replied in a low voice. "Yeah it is."

There was something so heartbreakingly sad in his expression for a few moments. Sam didn't dare ask what had happened, he didn't dare to push any further because whatever had happened, he certainly didn't want to talk about it. There are few possibilities, he could be exiled, the planet could had been captured in war, but whatever it was; his expression was clear. The Doctor held no hope of ever seeing that burnt orange sky again.

"What's it called?" Sam asked quietly.

"What's up with you and questions today? It's not you'll know about it if I tell you." the Doctor pointed out, growing a bit frustrated about this boy.

Sam looked at him and glanced down at his shoes. He stopped and didn't know what to do, he should've known well enough for his nosy experience if he pushes too hard he would get yelled at. He shouldn't question, shouldn't be nosy, shouldn't even talk at the first place. It was his fault; it was always his fault.

"Gallifrey." the Doctor suddenly said. There was a certain reverence in a way he said it that left Sam almost certain of his guesses. "It's called Gallifrey. The Shinning World of the Seventh System. Home of the Time Lords."

"It's sound Irish," Sam said, trying to lighten the mood.

The Doctor smiled at him in amusement. "Yeah, people said that a lot."

After a few moments of silence, Sam decided to change the subject. "So, you said something about other planets?"

The Doctor snapped out of his solemn mood, the goofy grin returning. "Right! Other planets, way better than going home. Let see," He turned to the screen. "Year five billion and fifty-three, planet New Earth. Second hope of mankind. Fifty thousand light years from your old world, and we're slap bang in the middle of the New New York." He tilted his head thoughtfully for a moment before adding, "Although, technically it's the fifteenth New York from the original, so it's New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, York. One of the most dazzling cities ever built."

"Five billion years in the future?" Sam gawked at the idea. He couldn't help but be awed just at the idea. "What's it like? I mean, what are human like now? Do we look any different?"

"Nah, you lot look about the same." the Doctor told him. "Earth's gone, sun burned it up a few years ago, so no humans left there, but the human race has spread itself out to every star at this point. Now what are you asking me for?"

Without warning, he threw down the final lever and the time machine began to shake and shuddered its way through time again. With a slight squeak of surprise, Sam's torso was thrown down onto the console. He managed to grab hold for his dear life as the TARDIS bumped its way through the rest of the trip. When the ship finally stilled the Doctor hurried over to the door and turned back to face Sam.

"Come see for yourself!"

More excited than he'd admitted to even himself, the boy hurried past the console and to the front door. He pulled it open, eager to see the glorious sights the Doctor had been talking about, only to be greeted by a dank, narrow alley and a face full of rain. He raised his hands over his head, turning to look at the Doctor. He had locked the TARDIS door and didn't even seem to notice the rain.

"I should've bring a jacket." he inquired.

"Nah, a bit of rain never hurt anyone," the Doctor said dismissively. "Come, let's get under cover!" Grabbing Sam's hand, they took off into the streets.

They kept going until they found themselves in a slightly larger alley, where several large green metal bins, almost like dumpsters were lined up. The Doctor led them over to a screen on the wall. "Hang on." He pointed his sonic screwdriver at it for a moment until it turned on. A blonde woman appeared on screen with a little icon of the statue of liberty in the back. Sam was surprised at the familiarity of it, it seemed just like a news report back home. The blonde woman was finishing up, "…and driving should be clear and easy, with fifteen extra lanes open for the New New Jersey expressway."

The screen cut to a clip of a wide, grassy cliff overlooking a vast stretch of water. In the distance, Sam could see a city far larger than any he'd seen before, and some sort of spaceship hovered in the foreground. It looked beautiful, far better than the alley they'd found themselves in.

"Oh, that's more like it," the Doctor said appreciatively, tapping at the screen to make his point. "That's the place I wanted to land." He turned back to look assessing the alley. "This must be the lover levels, down in the base of the tower. Some sort of under-city."

"I guess there's not a chance we could re-park the TARDIS?" Sam asked. He was freezing from his head to toe.

"Nah, this is much more interesting!" the Doctor cried happily as he turned around. "It's all cocktails and glitter up there. This is the real city."

"Where is everyone?" Sam asked.

"Hmm… that is a good question." the Doctor looked around more critically now, frowning slightly. "This time of day, should at least be someone out."

"Maybe it's one of those bad parts of town every scared to go through," Sam suggested. The Doctor just shrugged distractedly in response. As the silence continued, the boy asked him again. "Have you been here before?"

"Not yet," the Doctor told him. He looked back at the boy with a grin. "Well, we did go to New Las Vegas so I guess that's count as coming here on the whole New Earth? But never New New York, don't know why?"

"Doctor," Sam said. "You said 'we', who'd you mean?"

The Doctor smile faded a bit. "I went there with Rose, well I guess with Captain Jack too." He shook his head, then turned to Sam with a goofy grin, as though to turn his bad mood into a joke. "Had a bit of a gamble with some local." he joked lightly.

Sam felt sorry for the Doctor. Just from the way he'd said her name, he could tell Rose meant a lot from him. From the moment he'd met him while he was in the regeneration come, he always muttered her name as it would comfort him; but then it followed with a dreadful heavy word of 'sorry'. Was the room he found was hers? He remembered the quick flashes of sadness he had shown earlier at the observation room, as if he was trying to hang on to something or someone. He wanted to say something to comfort him, but he had no idea what to say.

Before he could respond, a flap on the front of one of the green bins pushed outward. He realized what he had earlier thought were dumpsters are actually shop fronts; the flap was held up by a thin green stick, and behind was a shop stall with a smiling shopkeeper behind the counter. He looked surprised to see the Doctor and Sam standing there.

"Oh! You should have said. How long you been there?" the man smiled widened. Without waiting for an answer, he dinged the bell that sat on the counter, pointing at the wares behind him. "Happy! You want happy!"

Before the Doctor could say anything, a call went out from one of the other stalls. "We've got customers!" Suddenly, all around them shops were opening their flaps, the shopkeepers yelling out their wares at the baffled travellers.

"Happy! Lovely, lovely happy!"

"Anger! Buy some Anger!"

"Get some Mellow!"

"Don't go to them. They'll rip you off. Do you want some happy?"

"No thanks," the Doctor told them flatly. His face darkens for a moment, maybe he should've accept Sam's offer to land on other place.

"Are they selling emotions?" Sam asked. He frowned at them.

The Doctor didn't reply. He didn't want to answer the boy that what they were selling was actually a mood drugs that people used, the drugs would work as it could shift their chemical which at the end change their moods instantly and a lot of people loved and get addicted with those. It was a dangerous drugs and it should have been banned. This time around, the government of New Earth should've passed a policy to give a heavy sanction for those who sold drugs in the form of moods. It was a dangerous type of drugs, as it's already cost many lives of the user. Of course his best guess was the government wouldn't care less if it only sold them in the lower levels.

"Oi! Oi, you! Over here! Over here! Buy some Happy!" the man shouted at a young woman who dressed in dirty and ragged clothing, but the young woman went over to the woman across him, who said gently. "Come over, yeah. And what can I get you, my love?"

"I want to buy Forget," she said in a dead tone, completely at odds with the over-cheerful shopkeeper. She had an air of heaviness to her.

"I've got Forget, my darling." the shopkeeper told her agreeably. "What strength? How much do you want to forget?"

The Doctor started to head closer, Sam frowning closely. They paused nearby as the woman hesitated before admitting, "It's my mother and father. They went on the motorway."

"Oh, that's a swine," the shopkeeper said sympathetically. She turned to her stores, grabbed something off a lower shelf, then turned back to the girl. "Try this," she said as she handed her a thin, circular patch. "Forget Forty-Three. That's two credits."

The woman handed her the money, then started to put the patch to her skin.

The Doctor cut in before she could. "Sorry, but hold on a minute. What happened to your parents?"

"They drove off," the young woman told him mournfully.

"Yeah, but they might drive back." the Doctor pointed out gently.

"Everyone goes to the motorway in the end. I've lost them."

"But they can't have gone far," the Doctor said, trying to reason with her. "You could find them."

The young woman looked at him for a moment, her face hopeless. Then she looked down with a sigh and pressed the patch to her neck.

"No, no, don't!" the Doctor stepped forward to stop her, but it was too late.

With a dazed dreamy smile that change her earlier gloom, the woman turned back to the Doctor. "I'm sorry, what were you saying?"

"Your parents," he reminded her firmly. "Your mother and father. They're on the motorway.

"Are they?" she asked dreamily. "That's nice. I'm sorry, I won't keep you." With that, she turned and left.

"So, that was weird," Sam told him.

Before the Doctor could reply, a hand wrapped around over the boy mouth, an arm pulling around his waist. A man was pulling him back while a woman pointed a gun at the Doctor. The Time Lord was looking at them in surprise and horror. Sam struggled, crying out but the sound was muffled by the man's hand. His grip was too strong to escape.

"I'm sorry, I'm really, really sorry," the man apologized frantically as he pulled him back. "We just need the boy, that's all."

"No! Let him go!" the Doctor shouted at them in anger and desperation. His voice was almost lost amongst the pair pleading apologies. "I'm warning you!" he shouted in rage. "Let him go! Whatever you want, I can help. But first you have to let him go!"

Everyone was shouting over each other, but the man backed up to an open door, just as the woman pointed the gun at him cried. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry. We just need three, that's all." and dashing out the door.

In a seconds, they had disappeared behind a door and were heading towards what looked like some kind of hover car. Sam started struggling more violently now, he knew if they took him away in that, it'd be much harder to him getting back to the Doctor. He couldn't break free entirely, but he managed to shake free of the hand on his mouth, then proceed to bite the hand as hard as he can.

"Bloody hell!" the man exclaimed, letting go of his hold and giving him a chance to run. But the man was quicker and bigger than him as he tackled the boy on the ground, holding him more firmly as he struggled. "Give him some sleep."

Sam stiffened when he saw the woman holding one of those patches. "No! No, please!" he cried as the woman advanced at him.

"It's okay love, just sleep," she soothed desperately as she pressed the patch to the skin of his neck. "It won't do any harm if you don't fight it."

"Please-" his voice breaking.

The energy began to drain from him, and only moments later he slumped unconscious against the man, the last thing he heard was the Doctor screaming his name.


	16. The Motorway

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything that related to Doctor Who, except my own original character. At least someday maybe I would? Probably become one of the screen-writer? Maybe. (Lol nah!)

He lost him. The Great Big Time Lord with the brain that could be beat even the most advance computer just lost a child to a kidnapper. The feeling of panic and fear creeping up at him, he should've taken better look at him, he should've even keep an eyes on him. He was a Time Lord for Rassilon sake! His senses should have been ten times better and an ordinary human ape should've been creeped into him. He never felt this panic and fear in a long time and it wasn't the feeling of the usual panic when one of his companion wandering off, this feeling of panic and the rush of adrenaline pumping through him was far more familiar to him.

What if he lost him for good? What if he never found Sam? He should've bring him home safe, he promised him that. To bring him back home, and he needs to fulfil that promises to him, he won't break that promise. He would never break that promise ever again, he wouldn't break it not like the last time. The last promise to keep his companion safe, and he will keep him safe. No empty promises.

No more.

Mentally slapping himself, he should've take his words and moved the TARDIS somewhere saver than the lower level. He should've known that the place would be dangerous, yet his stupid idiotic curious Time Lord brain won't stop him for rummaging around the place and pocking every turned with a big stick rather than keeping the safety option.

All of this was his fault, why didn't he even pay attention to his surrounding more. Sam wasn't like his other companion, sure they were all different; they were adults, soldier, doctor's, alien, time lady, warrior, shapeshifting alien, librarian, teenagers, and even a tin dog. Yet, they all had one thing in common; the ability for taking care of themselves, even the half of them were all jeopardy magnet. In the events of being captured, half of them can take better care of themselves, some would think a way out by themselves, and the others would just free themselves easily. But in Sam case, he was just a child; a ten years' old who are now lost in a world where he wasn't familiar with, in the event of being captured, there's a possibility where he would be scared and confused. Thanks to his big ol' Time Lord sense he always boasted to be more superior than anyone, yet didn't notice the two people creeping up behind them.

The only clue he has now was their whereabouts which was the motorway and the need for them to have three passengers or possibly more. Quickly making his way back to the streets. His frustration become more pent up as made his way. He could see all the pharmacy stalls had close d. Urgently, he pounded on the nearest one angrily. The same lady who sold the woman Forget opened immediately, plastering a broadly smile at the Doctor.

"Thought you'd come back." the pharmacist said happily. "Do you want some Happy, Happy?" She asked.

"Those people," the Doctor pointed furiously. "Who are they? Where did they take him?"

"They've taken him to the motorway," the male pharmacist opened his hatch, as he replied. The Doctor turned to the man urgently.

"Looked like carjackers to me." The woman pharmacist nodded, saying in agreement.

"I'd give up now, darling." the other pharmacist interjected, and the Doctor turned to her. "You won't see him again." She said sadly, and the Doctor's eyes darkened.

"Used to be thriving this place," the male pharmacist told him. "You couldn't move. But they all got to the motorway in the end."

The Doctor spun around, glaring at the three of them. He didn't give a damn about this place's lack of business. "They kept saying 'we need three'. What did they mean three?"

"It's the car-sharing policy, to save fuel," the pharmacist answered. "You get special access if you're carrying three people."

"The motorway," the Doctor said. "How do I get there?"

"Straight down the ally, keep going to the end. You can't miss it-" The Doctor strode in that direction before she had finished speaking, he didn't want to waist a second. Especially not on these people. "How about some Happy, Happy? Then you'll be smiling, my love."

At this, he rounded on them angrily. "Word of advice, all of you," he said harshly. "Cash up, close down and pack your bags."

"Why's that then?" the pharmacist said sounding offended.

"Because as soon as I've found him, alive and well, and I will find him alive and well." the Doctor said. His tone threatened what would happen if he didn't, "Then I'm coming back. And this street is closing, tonight!" He spat at the end, turned on his heel and headed off.

The pharmacist looked each other, apprehensively as the Doctor stormed off, fist clenched. He was going to find him, he was going to find him alive and well without any scratch. Or else, they would see the rage of the Oncoming Storm rain over New Earth.

0o0

Sam Piper couldn't tell how long had passed when he woke again, his head hurt and his vision as horribly blurry. He could hear foggy voices not far away, and the steady rumble of an engine told him he'd been brought on the hover car. He wasn't exactly scared; the couple who had taken him was seemed more desperate than dangerous. But he was now more worried about how he was going to get back to the Doctor.

Sam opened his eyes to see the small interior of the hover car. The man and woman from before were up front by the controls, sitting in the front seats. He appeared to have been laid out on some sort of bed in the back. There was an assortment of clutter on the bed beside him, including the gun the woman had threatened the Doctor with. He looked at it for a moment, considering to uses the gun but in the end decided against it. He just couldn't use it, there's a lot of things that could go wrong if he accidently pulled the trigger and shot them, even if it would have made him looked like those people in action movies he loves to watch; it might look cool in the movies, but there's a lot of thing that could go wrong if he uses it, even if it's just to threaten them.

Besides, the couple that had taken him had seemed pretty apologetic about the whole thing. They didn't seem want to hurt him, maybe talking to them could help him get his way back to the Doctor. Sam got up off the bed, making sure the weird patch they gave him hadn't had any other weird side effect other than a massive headache he was having now. Satisfied that he felt fine enough, the boy headed towards the front of the car.

"Oh, you're up!" the woman said with a forced grin when she saw him approached. She saw his tired face. "You're alright?"

"Yeah," Sam replied uncertainly. "I think it's because of that weird patch you gave me."

Guilt flashed into the woman's eyes. "It was just a bit of Sleep four point seven. We didn't want you hurting yourself struggling."

"Well, I was struggling because I was being kidnapped," Sam told her. He crossed his arms at her.

"Sorry about that," the woman grimaced. "Do you remember your name? What's your name?" She asked, trying to test him if there's any other side effect.

"It's Sam. Sam Piper."

"Well that's a good sign at least," she told him as she sighed in relieved. Gingerly the woman stood and made her way to stand up and gave the boy some water. "I'm Cheen and this is Milo, and I swear we're really sorry," Cheen continued, "We're really, really sorry. We just needed to access to the fast lane. But I promise as soon as we arrive, we'll drop you off and can go back to find your dad."

Sam frowned. "The Doctor's not my dad."

"He's not?" Cheen asked him in disbelief. She sat down beside him. "Then who is he? Were you actually kidnapped at the first place? Because you can come with us and tell the cop about-"

"No!" Sam said quickly. "He didn't kidnap me or anythin', he's just someone I travel with and I need to get back to him if I want to go home."

"Oh that's great," Milo finally piped up. He turned around them. "I thought for a moment that maybe we're not the only kidnappers out there."

Sam gave him a small smile. Curiosity began to win out over caution, walking over slowly he tried to see out the front window, but some sort of fog was blocking the view. "Where are we?"

"We're on the motorway," Cheen told him. "You need three people on board to get access to the fast lane, which is where we're trying to do."

"Is that fog?"

"That's the exhaust fumes," she told him.

"We're going out to Brooklyn," Milo chimed in. "Everyone says the air is so much cleaner and we couldn't stay in Pharmacy Town, because." He smiled adoringly at Cheen and rubbed her knee affectionately.

"Well, 'because of me," she finished. "I'm pregnant. We only discovered last week. Scan says it's going to be a boy." Beside her, Milo grinned and pulled his fist down in a victory gesture.

Sam gave her a genuine smile. "Congratulations." Against his better judgement, he'd already forgiven the two for kidnapping him. He'd be back to the Doctor soon anyway, and there was no harm done. Besides, they seemed so sweet.

Cheen smiled back. "Thanks."

Milo turned back to the controls, looking up the foggy window. "This be as fast as we can. We'll take the motorway to the Brooklyn flyover and then after that, it's going to take a while because then there's no fast lane, just ordinary roads but at least it's direct."

"It's only ten miles," Cheen assured him.

"How long will it takes to get to Brooklyn?" Sam asked.

"About six years," Cheen said dreamily.

Sam couldn't help but gape at them in shock. He was sure he'd heard them wrong. "How long again?"

"Six years," Cheen repeated, rubbing her stomach fondly. "Just in time for him to start school."

The boy was trying to get the idea through his head. Six years. Six years to drive ten miles. His uncle could dive that distance in ten minutes. No, six years couldn't be right, and it was either technology had devolved over time instead of getting better, or something was really, really wrong around here. He just hoped the Doctor would look into this.

0o0

"He's going to be okay," Rose Tyler tried to reassure the Doctor as they reached a door that read 'Motorway Access'. "They looked more scared than anything, and I have a feeling they need him and won't hurt him."

The Doctor turned to look at her, and forced a smile on his face. Her words didn't reassure him at all, and only having Sam in front of him safe and sound, probably would be locked away inside the TARDIS or home where he should be would do that. But it had been nice of her to try, even if she wasn't really there.

Using the sonic, he got the door open and found himself standing on a platform by the motorway. Thousands, possibly more cars were lined in the air lanes in the middle of a gridlock, and probably the worst gridlock he has ever seen. Down below was nothing but smoke and probably a never-ending empty space. The exhaust fumes from the cars was too strong for him, even his respiratory bypass wasn't effective at the moment as he began to cough and gasp for breath. Pulling his jacket over his nose in an attempt to help him proved to be useless.

Much to his need, the car in front of them opened its side door. A man wearing a World War II pilot outfit complete with a helmet, goggles, and a scarf around his face stood at the doorway and shouted at him over the noisy back up. "Hey, you daft little street struts! What are you doing standing there? Either get out or get in. Come on!"

Seeing this as his only hope, the Doctor jumped through the door into the car as the man shut the door and sat back in the driver's seat. He still coughed roughly as he tried to catch his breaths and started wheezing. A dark haired woman sitting beside the man immediately reached beside her and pulled out an oxygen masks.

"Here you go." she stood up and placed them on his face, as the Doctor nodded their heads in thanks as he started to regain his breath.

The man unwrapped the scarf from his face, which was revealed to be a cat's scolding him. "Just standing there, breathing it in! There's this story, says back in the old day on Junction forty-seven, this woman stood in the exhaust fumes for a solid twenty minutes. By the time they found her, her head had swollen to fifty-feet."

The woman shook her head, rolling her eyes. "Oh, you're making it up."

"A fifty-foot head! Just think of it. Imagine picking that nose!"

"Oh, stop it. That's disgusting."

The man laughed. "What, did you never pick your nose?"

"Bran, we're moving!" the woman tapped his arm and pointed out the front window.

"Right, I'm on it." Shifting the gears, the man moved up a short distance until coming to a stop behind the car in front of them. "Twenty yards, we're having a good day," he said with a chuckle before turning to the Doctor. "And who might you be sir? Very well dressed for hitchhikers."

Finally, able to breathe, the Doctor took off his oxygen mask. "Thanks. Sorry, I'm the Doctor."

"Medical man! Ha, ha!" the cat man replied excitedly before he introduced. "My name's Thomas Kincade Brannigan, and this is the bane of my life," he indicated the woman beside him, "the lovely Valerie."

Valerie smiled at him. "Nice to meet you."

"And that's the rest of the family behind you." Brannigan told him as he indicated a curtain right behind the Doctor.

The Doctor opened the curtain behind them to reveal a basket of kittens. "Ah, that's nice. Hello." He picked one up with a pink ribbon. "How old are they?"

"Just two months."

"Poor little souls." Brannigan sighed. "They've never known the ground beneath their paws. Children of the motorway."

The Doctor looked up. "What, they were born here?"

"We couldn't stop," Valerie told them. "We heard there were jobs going, out in the laundries on Fire Island. Thought we'd take a chance."

"Hold on, you've been driving for two months?" the Doctor asked. He eyed them with disbelief.

Brannigan gave a short laugh. "Do I look like a teenager? We've been driving for twelve years now."

"I'm sorry?"

"It's true! Started out as newlyweds," Brannigan turned to his wife with a dreamy look on his face. "Feels like yesterday."

Valerie shook her head. "Feels like twelve years to me."

"Ah sweetheart, but you still love me." he said as he started to tickle her, both of hem giggling.

Behind them, the Doctor was still trying to understand what was going on. "Twelve years? How far did you come? Where did you start?"

"Battery park. It's five miles back," Brannigan answered.

"You travelled five miles in twelve years?"

"I think he's a bit slow." Brannigan eyed his wife as the Doctor sat the kitten back it's basket.

"Where are you from?" she asked.

"Never mind that." I've got to get out." the Doctor moved closer to the front window. "My friend's in one of these cars. He was taken hostage, and I should get back to the TARDIS." He opened the door and realized they were no longer next to the balcony. He once again began coughing from the fumes.

"You're too late for that. We've passed the lay by." Brannigan told him. "You are a passenger now, Sonny Jim."

"When's the next lay-by?"

Brannigan avoid eye contact as a guilty expression crossed his face. "Oh, six months?"

The Doctor turned his dark gaze to the front of the car, staring at all the cars ahead of them. He needs to find Sam fast, there was no way he would wait for six months for finding him.


	17. Song of the Lost One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything related from Doctor Who; but I do wish maybe I could be one of the script writer in the future.

Sam stared out the car window as Milo drove the car down, continuing to drop them through the rows of cars, heading steadily lower. He looked in awe at the sheer number of cars that filled the entire tube-shaped motorway, wondering how many cars out there and where the lane actually ends. Or how the people actually drive in all the gas.

"How many cars out there?" Sam asked in wonder.

"I don't think anyone knows," Cheen replied. She was rummaging around the car.

"Well then, how can you see where you're driving with that out there?"

"You're a curious one, are you?" Cheen smiled at him. She proceeds to explained. "Well, this display here shows all the cars in proximity." She pointed at the control panel as she looked back at Sam with surprise. "Haven't you ever been in a hover car before?"

Sam shook his head.

"Well, first time for everything I guess," Cheen replied to him. She offered up what looked like a pack of flat, round biscuits. "Here we go. Hungry?"

"Thank you." Sam said gratefully, taking one. He looked at in curiously. "How far down is it to this fast lane?"

"Oh, it's right at the bottom," Milo explained. "Underneath the traffic jam. But not many people can afford three passengers, so it's empty down there. Rumour has it you can reach up to thirty miles per hour."

Sam raised both eyebrows. "Great?"

"So, what are you doing out with that friend of yours then?" Cheen asked curiously. "What was it name, Doctor?"

Sam shrugged. "I met him at Christmas, he saved a thousand other people's and then I want to travel with him. He's brilliant and he travels through the universe saving lives. Although he got a bit of a gob sometimes. I just travel with him, well I guess I also wanted to help a bit."

"That sounds wonderful," Cheen commented wistfully. "Travelling like that, in your age, seeing the universe. I'd love to get out to see places like that."

Sam nodded, thinking the last adventure he had. "Yeah, it's great."

"Oh, another gap." Milo said happily. "This is brilliant!" He began to lower them, and a computerized voice called.

'Car sign in'

Sam peered at the monitor to see they were going down from level 38, heading towards level 42. Milo speaks to his walkie-talkie. "Car Four Six Five Diamond Six, on descent to the fast lane, thank you very much."

'Please drive safely.'

Milo and Cheen grinned excitedly, while Sam wondered where on the earth the Doctor was, and if he would ever be able to find him in all these cars. Milo and Cheen has been a delight but he needs to get out of here, and that would be much harder, especially considering how low they were going down; he didn't trust whatever down there, as if there was this dreadful feeling that they shouldn't even gone down there.

0o0

Panic started to rise from him, the Doctor was pointing his sonic screwdriver at the monitor while searching at the back of the car, trying to hack into the Police Department of New, New York. Hoping the old thing would have turned on as quickly as possible, desperately trying to make the process faster and careful not to broke it. When he thought he had it, he spoke directly into the walkie-talkie.

"I need to talk to the police."

'Thank you for your call. You have been placed on hold.'

"But you're the police," the Doctor tried to reason.

'Thank you for your call. You have been placed on hold,' was the computerized response.

Letting out a growl of frustration, the Doctor gave up with the transmitter and any hopes of getting the police down here, and walked back to the front car. "Is there anyone else? I once met the Ambassador of Boston, is there any way of getting through to him?"

Brannigan raised his brows. "Oh, now ain't you lordly?"

"I've got to find my friend!" the Doctor early shouted in desperation. He sighed a ran a hand through his hair. "I need to get him back, now is there anyone else we can call?"

"I'm sorry, but you can't make outside calls," Valerie told him sympathetically. "The motorway's completely enclosed."

"What about the other cars?" the Doctor suggested.

"We've got contact with them yeah," Brannigan said, seemingly more willing to help the Doctor. "Well, some of them anyway. They've to be on your 'friend' list." He explained as he turned to his monitor, peering at the car numbers. "Now, let see. Who's nearby?" He stopped at a car number and exclaimed, "Ah! The Cassini sisters!" Pushing it, an image of two elderly women popped up, then he spoke into a transmitter, "Still your hearts, my handsome girls. It's Brannigan here."

'Get off the line, Brannigan. You're a pest and a menace.' one of the sisters responded.

"Oh come on, now sisters. Is that any way to talk to an old friend?"

'You know full well we're not sisters. We're married.'

"Oh, stop that modern talk," Brannigan said with a chuckle. "I'm an old fashioned cat. Now, I've got a hitchhiker here, calls himself the Doctor."

Brannigan handed the transmitter off to the Doctor, who grabbed it and brought it to his mouth hurriedly. "Hello. Sorry. I'm looking for someone called Sam Piper. He's been carjacked. He's inside one of these vehicles, but I don't know which one."

'Wait a minute,' said one of the woman. 'Could I ask; what entrance did they use?'

The Doctor looked to Brannigan. "Where were we?"

"Pharmacy Town," he informed.

"Pharmacy Town, about twenty minutes ago," the Doctor told them through the walkie-talkie.

'Let's have a look,' the voice said.

'Just my luck, to marry a car spotter,' the first woman muttered.

The car-spotter piped up. 'In the last half hour, fifty-three new cars joined from the Pharmacy Town junction.'

"Anything more specific?"

'All in good time,' she replied, frustrating him further. 'Was he carjacked by two people?'

"Yes! Yes, he was, yeah," the Doctor said, a little chirp in his voice. Now they were getting somewhere metaphorically speaking.

'There we are,' she said triumphantly. 'Just one of those cars was destined for the fast lane. That means they had three on board, and car number is four six five diamond six.'

"That's it!" the Doctor said, hope rising in him. "So how do we find them?"

'Ah. Now there I'm afraid I can't help.'

The Doctor quickly turned to Brannigan, urging, "Call them on this thing. We've got their number. Diamond six."

"But not if they're designated fast lane. It's a different class," Brannigan explained, and the Doctor's face become dark while one of the Cassini's called, 'You could try the police.'

"They put me on hold," the Doctor replied flatly.

'You'll have to keep trying. There's no one else.'

The Doctor almost cracked but he kept his calm, answering as sincerely as he could. "Thank you."

He sighed in defeat, then handed the transmitter back to Brannigan. The couple looked at him briefly in pity while the Doctor stared unseeing out into the sea of cars as he fell into thought. No way of communicating, no way of getting to them, no police, stuck in a traffic jam that had been going on at least twelve years. He glanced out the window again, a hard expression on his face.

0o0

An hour or so had passed; Sam was always having a bit of trouble telling on time. That was also one of the reason why he would always get into trouble with the teachers at school. He and Cheen were playing a board game with a holographic style of a Monopoly game; it was brilliant and fun too, especially where they all the pawn moved by themselves. Milo had recently announced that they had ten levels to go until they reached the fast lane-not too long now.

Chen and Milo nodded and proceed to play on their game, it was to keep the boy busy for a while and not bored inside the car. It was of course working like a charm, Sam might not like reading a lot, but he loves board game, he was great at it that people always called on him for cheating. But with Cheen was different, she was kept on playing with him and gave him a witty remark and question on how he was good at this. No screaming and scolding of him being a cheater, and no bad remarks towards him. In the end, he was having fun.

Suddenly, they all heard a distant growling sound that made them all paused in terror. Sam looked at Cheen and Milo who was frozen for a moment and kept on moving.

"What was that?" Sam asked them.

Neither of the other two adults answered, but there was another grown and a hiss.

Cheen drew in a sharp breath. "It's that noise, doesn't it? It's like Kate said." She looked almost excited. "The stories, they're true."

"Stories?"

Before Cheen could reply, Milo cut in. "It's the sound of the air vents. That's all. The exhaust fumes travel down, so at the base of the tunnel, they've got air vents."

"No, but the stories are much better," Cheen said with relish. She turned to Sam with a mischievous grin as her voice took on story-telling tone. "They say people go missing on the motorway. Some cars just vanish, never to be seen again, because there's something living down there in the smoke. Something huge, and hungry. And if you get lost on the road, it's waiting for you."

Another deep growl sounded made they jumped, startled from their sit. Milo looked shaken for a moment, but when the sound faded, he shook his head firmly. "But like I said. Air vents." Without waiting for a response, he turned back to the controls. "Going down to the next layer," he informed them.

This was definitely starting to sound like something the Doctor would investigate. Sam peered dubiously out the front window. "Um, Milo? I'm not sure the air vents are working. There's way too much fog out there."

Milo and Cheen shared a worried glance, but after a few moments he shook his head again. "Nah, kid stuff." He picked up the radio transmitter, connected to the display and spoke into it. "Car four six five diamond six, on descent."

The computer spoke back in a pleasant, female tone. 'Fast lane access. Please drive safely.'

As Milo drove the car down, he shared a triumphant grin with Cheen. "We made it," he said with wonder. "The fast lane."

Sam watched anxiously as the car descended, wondering what else might be waiting for them down there; and for whatever reasons, he knows it won't be so friendly.

0o0

"We've got to go to the fast lane." the Doctor told Brannigan. "Take me down."

Brannigan scoffed. "Not a million years."

The Doctor spread his arms as he indicated in exasperation. "You've got four passengers."

"I'm still not going." Brannigan said firmly. He was unmoved.

"He's a child!" the Doctor snarled, feeling desperate. "He's only ten, he's alone and I know he'll be scared." He sighed and run a hand through his hair. "He doesn't belong on this planet; he should've be at home where he's safe! Now I'm asking you, Brannigan- Take me down."

"No! And that's final," Valerie told him firmly. She glanced at the Doctor who stared at her anxiously. "I'm not risking the children down there."

"Why not? What's the risk?" the Doctor asked in a low voice. He began to panic. "What happens down there?"

"We're not discussing it. The conversation is closed." Valerie snapped.

"So we keep on driving." the Doctor stated.

"Yes, we do."

The Doctor face become dark as he snapped. "For how long?!"

"Till the journey's end."

Not satisfied with the answer, the Doctor let out a low growl as he reached over and grabbed the transmitter. "Mrs. Cassini, this is the Doctor. Tell me, how long have you been driving on the motorway?"

'Oh, we were amongst the first. It's been twenty-three years now.'

"And in all that time, have you ever seen a police car?" he continued. At that Brannigan and Valerie looked up at him in trepidation. There was fear and unease inn their eyes, on the end of the line, both sisters fell quite.

'I-I'm not sure,' the car-spotter finally said.

"Look at your notes. Any police?" the Doctor ordered lightly, grimly enjoying the looks of fear Brannigan and Valerie shared.

'Not at such,' she said sounding slightly upset.

"Or an ambulance? Rescue service? Anything official? Ever?"

'I can't keep a note of everything,' the old woman retorted at him.

"What if there's no out there?" the Doctor asked darkly, staring at Brannigan who snatched the radio from him angrily.

"Stop it." Brannigan grabbed the com out of the Doctor's hand. "The Cassini's were doing you a favour."

The Doctor leaned closer to the cat man. "Someone's got to ask, because you might not talk about it but it's there in your eyes. What if the traffic jam never stops?"

"There's a whole city above us. They mighty city state of New, New York. They wouldn't just leave us," he tried to make reasons.

"In that case, where are they, hmm? What if there's no help coming, not ever? What if there's nothing?" the Doctor voice turned grim. "Just the motorway, with the cars going around and around and around and around, never stopping. Forever."

"Shut up! Shut up!" Valerie snapped at him.

Suddenly the monitor turned on to reveal another static filled image of the same woman they had seen earlier. 'This is Sally Calypso, and it's that time again. The sun is blazing high in the sky over the New Atlantic, the perfect setting for the daily contemplation.'

"You think you know us so well, Doctor," Brannigan told him softly. "But we're not abandoned. Not while we have each other." He smiled at his wife.

'This is for all of you out there on the roads. We're so sorry. Drive save.'

A song began to play loudly spreading throughout the motorway. The soft melody combined with the many voices reciting every lyric blended together so beautifully, it sounded so full of hope. A hymn sung by a church choir bringing everyone together in unfiled harmony. Brannigan and Valerie softly joined the singing and if the Doctor listened carefully, he could make out the sounds of other voices singing from the cars surrounding them. The Doctor stepped back, watching them. He wondered if Sam was down there, somewhere, singing along; giving him some added hope that he was alright, wherever he was.


	18. Macra in The Fast Lane

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Doctor Who, as they are all belong to the BBC except my original character. This story is written in the purpose of fun.
> 
> A/N: Hello! On the side note, there's a little bit of Rose/Tenth Doctor in this chapter so yeah, hope it could satisfy the Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler shipper reader out there.

The Doctor stayed quite for a moment after the hymn ended. Valerie and Brannigan both had tears in their eyes, they had faith in each other, in some great cosmic design. He used to have faith, he had faith in her but right now, his faith towards anything in the universe was fading quickly. There was no faith in him again, as he retreated himself in the back of the hoover car, he just hoped for a miracle to find him.

"You alright?" said a voice he needed to hear.

The Time Lord turned and saw Rose Tyler sat beside him, she had the same look after they had the little adventure with a Dalek in Utah after they arrived back inside his ship; he remembered how he thought about how he just pointed the gun at her, but kind Rose Tyler just hold his hand and looked at him in his eyes with the same worried look she gave him now; not a judgemental look, not an angry look, but a worried look for him.

"It's my fault," the Doctor whispered at her. "If I just listen to him, and take him in the upper city, if I just bring him home after the first one-" He sighed and scrubbed a hand down his face.

"Hey," she said softly, barely audible over the song still playing across the motorway as she lifted his head up. "Knowing you, I know you will find another way. You'll always do, and it wasn't your fault. None of this is your fault."

He looked at her and give her a hollow smile. Knowing inwardly well that what she was saying it was exactly what the Doctor wanted to hear; he was just imagining that it was her saying those words, trying to comfort himself. Always the coward, even leaning on someone for some comfort, trying to convince himself that she was right here comforting him just like the old day.

"Maybe if we try the police again-" Rose started.

"What for?" he asked, looking down at her. "They're not there. There's no one there."

"There's always something," Rose told him. Her gaze towards the middle floor of a sort of door as she looked up to the Doctor. "Don't you think so, Doctor?"

"Oh, Rose Tyler," he said, shaking his head and smiling broadly in a slightly brilliant way that was completely loved by her. "Beautiful, stubborn, fantastic, Rose Tyler. What would I do without you?"

"Lost, probably?" Rose said to him. She then gave him a serious look. "Now you go find him Doctor, and bring him back safe. I know you can."

He nodded with a smirk and press a kiss to her forehead before turning back to the couple. "Right then. If you won't take me, I'll go down on my own." Moving over to the small trapdoor, he took out the sonic and tried to get it opened.

"What do you think you're doing?" Brannigan asked as he and Valerie turned around, shocked.

"Finding my own way," the Doctor said as he opened the hatch. "I usually do."

'Capsule open,' said the automated voice.

"Here we go," the Doctor said a bit more bouncily. He took off his coat and threw it at a panicked looking Valerie. "Look after this. I love that coat. It has big pockets, and I don't want to lose it."

"But you can't jump." Valerie cried.

"If it's any consolation Valerie," the Doctor said, looking up at her. "Right now, I'm having kittens."

Valerie watched fearfully, clutching his coat in her hand as the Doctor prepared to jump, when Brannigan suddenly piped in. "This Sam. He must mean an awful lot to you."

"I never told him." the Doctor told Brannigan with regret in his voice. "I was too busy showing off, and I lied to him. Couldn't help it, just lied, even though he is my responsibility but I can't even keep him safe." He paused before taking a deep breath. "Bye then!" he called and jumped down to the next car. He ran the sonic screwdriver over the roof hatch as the fumes caught him, making him cough and wheeze. He hopped down into the capsule as the hatch swung open.

The Doctor landed with a slight thud on his feet on top of the car beneath Brannigan and Valerie's. Crouching down, he pulled out his sonic to immediately start on the door. Popping up the hatch, he dropped down into the car, startling a man with the palest skin tone.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Sorry, Motorway Foot Patrol," the Doctor responded quickly. "We're doing a survey. How are you enjoying the motorway?"

He crouched down to work on the next door as the man answered. "Well, not very much. Junction Five's been closed for three years!"

The door popped. "Thank you, your comments have been noted. Have a nice day!"

He continued on to the next car, and already felt the fumes get to him. Jumping down into the car he startled two Asian girls.

"Thank you for your cooperation, your comments have been noted," he spotted a purple handkerchief and picked it up, tying it around his face as a mask to shield himself from the fumes. "Mind if I borrow this?" the girls started at him, so he just gave them a thumbs up before dropping down to the next car.

"Oh!" the Doctor exclaimed quickly, averting his gaze as he dropped in on two very naked passengers. "Don't mind me," he said, blindly opening the next hatch.

The next car was occupied by a man with a crimson red skin tone, who the Doctor simply saluted before continuing to the next car.

0o0

"Try again," Cheen told Milo, panic creeping into her voice. Milo pressed the 'Exit 1' button and the computer stated that it was closed. "Try the next one." He pressed 'Exit 2', but yet again the computer told them it was closed.

"What do we do?" Cheen moaned in anguish. The mother-to-be seemed to be taking the stories she'd heard seriously, and Sam couldn't blame her. If the last few days had taught him anything, it was that crazy stories weren't always so crazy.

"We'll keep going round," Milo told her calmly, though his voice wavered slightly. It was clear he was trying to stay the logical one despite his fear. "We'll do the whole loop. By the time we come back around, they'll be open."

A deep growl reverberated around them, louder than before. Cheen let out a slight whimper, and Milo's face paled of colour. Sam felt a thrill of fear, he leaned forward between Milo and Cheen's seats. "I don't think that's the air vents."

Milo fought to keep his voice under control. "What else could it be?"

A deep thud sounded beside them and made the car shook again violently.

"What the hell is that?" Cheen cried in distress.

"It's just the hydraulics," her boyfriend insisted, starting to sound angry. "There's nothing alive. It's all exhaust fumes out there. Nothing could breathe in that."

Before Cheen could respond, static sounded from the radio transmitter. 'Calling car four six five diamond six. Repeat, calling car four six five diamond six.' It wasn't the automated voice from before; it was a worried, female one.

Milo scrambled to pick up the transmitter. "This is car four six five diamond six," he confirmed hastily, trying to cover up this fear. "Who's that? Where are you?"

'I'm in the fast lane,' the woman told him quickly, 'About fifty yards behind. Can you get back up? Can you get off the fast lane?' There was urgency in her tone as she spoke. They all froze in fear; this woman knew about whatever was down here.

"We only have permission to go down," Milo told the woman. "We need the Brooklyn Flyover."

'It's closed!' the woman snapped. 'Go back up.'

"We can't," Milo repeated. "We'll just go around."

There was a frustrated sound from the other end. 'Don't you understand? They're closed. They're always closed! We're stuck down here, and there's something else out there in the fog. Can't you hear it?'

Another roared echoed around them.

"That's the air vents," Milo insisted though now he seemed to be trying to convince himself rather than anyone else.

'Jehovah, what are you? Some stupid kid? Get out of there!'

The sound of something banging against metal echoed from the radio transmitter, followed by yelps of terror.

"What was that?!" Milo asked in a voice high from fear.

'I can't move!' the woman gasped, 'They've got us!'

"But what's happening?" Milo demanded.

'It's here! Just drive, you idiots! Get out of here!' The static increased in intensity, then was cut off entirely.

"Can you hear me?" Milo asked. His voice raised in panic. "Hello?"

Sam took it the radio from Milo's hands. "Milo, she said to get out of here. We need to move, please!"

"But where?" Milo looked around.

"Up. As far as you can," Sam told him. "Then just straight ahead. Maybe we can outrun it, whatever it is."

With a frightened nod, Milo did what the boy said, picking up speed as they zoomed through the fast lane, fear creeping through the three of them as they saw Cheen was gripping hard for comfort to her husband.

0o0

The Doctor jumped down onto another car, coughing and wheezing. Though his respiratory bypass was fighting against the toxins he was inhaling and giving him an upper hand, the smoke was thickening with the further he went down to the lower levels, making it hard to move quickly before his lungs gave up; respiratory bypass or not, anyone shouldn't be expose in this much of toxic fumes and he wasn't planning on regenerating this quickly.

The handkerchief tied around his face was also proving to be ineffective as the fumes burned his throat and chest. Popping up the next door he dropped down into the car, startling a man dressed in a suit and bowl hat surprised as he landed.

"Excuse me, is that legal?" the man asked.

"Sorry, Motorway Foot Patrol," the Doctor chocked out, coughing then gave up. "Whatever. Have you got any water?"

"Certainly," the man said, reaching over to a water cooler to fill a conical cup for him. "Never let it be said I've lost my manners."

He handed the cup to the Doctor, and he drained it immediately. Having respiratory bypass and a body that could remove toxins at a ridiculous pace did not mean that jumping through several layers of cars in smoke so thick he could practically eat it was comfortable. He took a few deep breaths.

"Is this the last layer?"

"We're right at the bottom." the man told him. "Nothing below us but the fast lane."

"Can we drive down?"

"There's only two of us. You need three to go down."

"Couldn't we just cheat?" he borderline begged.

"Well, I'd love to," the man replied. "But it's an automated system. The wheel would lock." He shook the wheel to emphasize his point.

The Doctor groaned before he reached into his jacket for his sonic. "Then excuse me." He called back as he started to open the trapdoor.

"You can't jump!" the man called in alarm. "It's a thousand feet down."

"No," the Doctor replied. He heaved the trapdoor open and grunted. "I just want to look." As the words left his mouth, there was a snarl below, hidden below the thick fumes.

"What's that noise?" the Doctor murmured with a frown.

"I-I try not to think about it." the man told him.

"What are those lights? What's down there?" He tried to look deeper but wound up coughing again. He waved his hand in front of his face to fan out the smoke. "I just need to see."

He jumped up and ran to the front of the car to poke the sonic at the screen. "There must be some sort of ventilation. If I could just transmit a pulse through this thin, maybe I could trip the system, give us a bit of a breeze."

He leaned down underneath the display, using the sonic screwdriver to pry open the console, exposing the wires. He examined several of them, splicing them together in different ways with the help of the sonic screwdriver. Suddenly, air vents outside wheezed to life.

"That's it!" the Doctor cried in triumph. "Might shift the fumes a bit, give us a good look." He jumped back over to the hatch, staring down into the depths with the driver of the vehicle.

"What are those shapes?"

Large claws rose from below, snapping. "They're alive," the Doctor said.

"What the hell are they?" the man cried in horror, finally seeing that the claws were attached to some sort of giant crab, much bigger than the cars at any rate.

"Macra." the Doctor stated in horror. This was not good.


	19. An Old Friend in The Way

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I ain't own any shit from Doctor Who except my original character.

The car jolted around harshly, throwing Sam to the ground.

"Go faster!" Cheen cried over the noise.

"I'm at top speed!" Milo shouted back. He drove the car in a zigzag, narrowly avoiding what appeared to be claws. He frantically pushed the screen trying to get up to the next layer. But it only told them that there was no access. "But this is an emergency!" He yelled into the transmitter. H tried calling the police, but was placed on hold. Another crash jerked the car and they were all thrown to the ground.

Sam tried to get up and see through the windshield to figure out what was after them, but the fog cloaked everything. Hang on, the fog. "I can't see us through the fog," he realized aloud, "So it must be able to hear us somehow." He turned urgently to Milo. "Can you turn the engines off?"

He looked at him in shock. "You've got to be joking."

"They can't see us," Sam repeated. "So they must be following us by sound. Maybe if we're silent, they won't be able to find us. We need to shut off anything that makes sound."

"What if you're wrong?"

Sam felt a rush of uncertainty. He'd been so caught up in his idea that he'd forgotten what he was asking these people do, he didn't think this through enough. There's a sudden what if questions and suggestion, what if something that was after them can still see through the fog, and they could've died quickly, or what if they ran out of air first or whatever was filled this hoover car going. If he was wrong, he was about to get them all killed, until he remembered his last adventure, and he knew it was the only idea or way they had.

"Just try, please."

Shooting him a last doubt frightened glance, Milo turned to the controls and started switching everything off. The car darkened and fell silent, and the banging from outside stopped. They all held their breath for a few moments, hoping that the idea was right.

"They've stopped," Cheen finally breathed.

"Yeah, but they're still out there," Milo reminded her softly.

Cheen turned to Sam. "How did you think of that?"

"I think I might have seen it in a movie once," Sam admitted. He shrugged. "But now, I don't know what to do."

"Well, you better think of something else quick," Milo said, worriedly. "Because we've lost the air-con. If we don't switch the engines back on, we won't be able to breathe."

The boy drew a sharp breath. He hadn't thought about that. "How long have we got?"

Milo looked at the controls with a frown. "Eight minutes. Maximum."

0o0

Macra. Of all the monsters in the universe, it should have been Macra. This situation gone from bad to worse, the feeling of fear and worried had become a full blown panic when he thought that Sam was down there with these two kidnappers and there was Macra down there with him. If there was Macra down there, there's only a small chance he actually survived down there. That thought didn't help to ease his feeling, and there was now no hope if he could bring him back alive or even in one piece.

"Macra?" the man questioned, shocking the thought from his head.

"The Macra used to be the scourge of this galaxy," the Doctor explained to the gentleman. "Gas. They fed off gas, the filthier the better. They built up the small empire using humans as slaves and mining gas for food."

"They don't exactly look like empire builders to me." the man pointed out.

"Well, that was billion years ago," the Doctor told him. He gazed down towards the Macra. "Billions. They must have devolved down the years and now they're just beasts. But they're still hungry, and my friend is down there."

A sudden loud thud on the roof of the car got both of their attention. The hatch opened up and a pair of feet dangled inside. "Oh, it's like New Times Square in here, for goodness's sake!" the man cried.

The Doctor stood and came forward to the door. "I've invented a sport!"

The figure dropped down wearing a long white own and headpiece, holding a gun in their hands. They turned around and looked up at him, the Doctor telling right away it was a cat judging by the eyes and alight glimpse of the face underneath the cloth covering them up.

"Doctor! You're a hard man to find."

Then the man seemed to notice that she was holding gun. "No guns!" he cried. "I'm not having guns!"

"I only brought this in case of pirates," the cat said before turning back to the Doctor. "Doctor, you've got to come with me."

"Do I know you?" he asked.

"No, you don't. My name is Novice Hame and under his guidance he had told me so much about you," she told him in wonder. "Time has been less kind to him, and if you come with me, I might finally be able to give something to him."

"What do you mean? I'm not going anywhere." the Doctor told her, pointing down to the open hatch showing below the motorway. "You've got Macra living underneath this city. Macra! And if Sam is still alive," he tried not to think about the boy mangled body lying somewhere inside a crushed car in the claws of Macra. "If he's still alive, he's stuck down there!"

"You've got to come with me right now!" Novice Hame pleaded. "Please, he doesn't have much time."

"Who doesn't have much time? I won't go anywhere." the Doctor told her. "We've got three passengers now; you're coming with me."

"I'm sorry, Doctor. But the situation is even worse than you can imagine." Quickly, she took his wrist and pressed a green button on her wristband. "Transport."

"Don't you dare!" the Doctor yelled in alarm. "Don't you dare!"

But it was too late and they beamed away.

0o0

"Rough teleport," the Doctor commented with a groan as he sat up on the ground. He hated that method of transportation with a passion, and now he was even more frustrated that he was taken away from coming close to saving Sam. "Ow…" Slowly rising to his feet, he turned to Hame. "But you can go straight back down and teleport people out, starting with Sam!"

"I only had the power for one trip," Hame shook her head.

"Then get some more!" the Doctor shouted at her. He looked around the dark building. It seemed quite large, giving he seemed to have a slight echo. "Where are we?'

"High above, in the over-city."

"Good!" he snapped. "Because you can tell the Senate of New, New York that I would like a word. They've got thousands of people trapped on the motorway! Millions!"

"But you're inside the Senate, right now," Hame said quietly. "May the Goddess Santori bless them." She pressed something on her wristband and the hall was lit up. Around them were rows and rows of skeletons. He looked around stunned, taking in the grim scene of skeletons draped around the once grand chamber in sympathy and sadness.

"They died Doctor," she said softly. "The city died."

"How long has it been like this?" All of his previous anger was completely gone.

"Twenty-four years," Hame said as they walked over to a small raised area where a partly mummified skeleton lay on the ground.

He kneeled down next to it, his eyes filled with profound sorrow and despair. "All of them? Everyone? What happened?"

"A new chemical," Hame answered, bending down. "A new mood. They called it Bliss." She used her gloved hand to hold up the patch. "Everyone tried it. They couldn't stop. A virus mutated inside the compound and become airborne. Everything perished. Even the virus, in the end." She paused before turned to the Doctor.

"It killed the world in seven minutes flat." she told him sadly. "There was just enough time to close down the walkways and the flyovers, sealing off the under-city. Those people on the Motorway aren't lost. They were saved."

"So the whole thing down there is running on automatic," the Doctor realized.

"There's not enough power to get them out." Hame said urgently. "We did all we could to stop the system from chocking."

The Doctor frowned. "Who's we? How did you survive?"

"He protected me." she answered reverently. "And he has waited for you, these long years."

 _'Doctor'_ A mighty and deep voice echoed in the Doctor's mind. He looked up and darted around a corner to see the Face of Boe in his glass case and smoke. He dashed over and knelt in front of him.

"The Face of Boe," the Doctor said happily.

 _'I knew you would come,'_ his deep voice hummed in the Doctor's head.

"Back in the old days, I was made his nurse, as a promise of the sisterhood." Hame told him quietly, bowing her head. "Legend says that the Face of Boe has watched the universe grow old. There's all sorts of superstitions around him." She explained. "One story says that just before his death, the Face of Boe will impart his great secret that he will speak those words,  to his oldest friend, as they met for one last time."

"Old friend," the Doctor murmured. He lifted his hand to the tank. "What happened to you?"

"Failing," the Face of Boe breathed out.

"He protected me from the virus by shrouding me in his smoke," Hame answered. She looked at the tank with gratitude. "But with no one to maintain it, the city's power died. The undercity would have fallen into the sea."

"So he saved them."

"The Face of Boe wired himself into the mainframe." she told him. "He's giving his life force just to keep things running.

"But there are planets out there," the Doctor frowned. "You could have called for help."

Hame shook her head sadly. "The last act of the Senate was to declare New Earth unsafe. The automatic quarantine lasts for one hundred years."

"So the two of you stayed here," the Doctor said gently, getting up and going to her. "On your own, for all these years." He found all of his anger towards the situation vanish in that instant. What she had done was so selfless and so loving. She had stayed to look after not only the Face of Boe, but every human left on New Earth.

"We had no choice," she told him.

He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Yes, you did."

"Save them, Doctor," the Face of Boe breathed. "Save them."

"Oh, just you watch me," the Doctor said, running over to a monitoring screen. Taking out his glasses his eyes were focused on the task at hand as he plunged in information.

0o0

For six long minutes, they waited in silence, too scared to speak. Finally, Cheen asked Milo, "How much air's left?"

"Two minutes," he breathed.

They were all sweating from the lack of air conditioner, and while they were trying not to breathe too deeply, it was difficult as the amount of carbon dioxide inside the car increased. Sam sat and bite on his nails in thought.

"I'm sorry," Sam told them. He sighed. "I was wrong. We need to turn everything back on. If we try to go any longer, we're going to be out of air."

Cheen reached out and grasped his shoulder, giving it a comforting pat. "It's alright Sam. It was a smart idea."

"I wish the Doctor was here, he would know what to do." Sam sighed. "I wonder what he's doing right now."

"I'm sorry," Cheen whispered. "I never asked. Where is home?"

"Really far away." Sam told them. He flicked his nail. "I used to hate home, because it doesn't feel like I was welcome there, it was cold and lonely there. But now, home doesn't sound so bad at all."

Milo and Cheen frowned at each other knowingly, feeling regret that they had taken the boy. They should've search for someone else, there are thousands of people in Pharmacy Town, and they would bet there was someone that would want a ride to the motorway. But no, they had to kidnapped someone and now they're stuck here, if only there's something that could make things better.

"Right." Milo said as he considered. He reached to the controls to turn the engines back on. Before he did, he turned back to look at Cheen and Sam. "Good luck," he said softly.

With that, he turned the engines back on and took off immediately, hurtling the car as fast as it could go through the fog. The roaring began again, and something clipped the side of the car, but they weren't caught yet.


	20. Last Words of the Face of Boe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I declare thee that I do not own any property of Doctor Who in the exception of the original character.
> 
> A/N: With heavy editing come explanation. Okay so in this one, originally I wasn't going to kill the Face of Boe but then I changed my mind in the last minute. It was sad really, we're seeing our favorite character died early and they haven't even met yet but they will and the message of season 3 will be delivered later but not in this episode. The other reason is because I don't feel like changing the ending of this particular episode because of how fitting it is.  
> That's all I guess, but don't worry! We still going to meet a certain captain on the way.

The Doctor was looking at the schematics of the motorway when suddenly a dot representing a car appeared out of nowhere in the fast lane. He tried to find the car Sam was in as he hoped whatever entity that are in the universe that the car was still register, and he was still inside there alive and not being mauled by the Macra. His face suddenly lit up and his hopes flared when he saw the number.

"Car four six five diamond six, it still registers! That's Sam!" the Doctor cried in delight. "Oh, he's brilliant!" He had to get Sam out of there. But he knew how he could save him and the entire people of the city.

"Novice Hame, hold that in place," the Doctor said getting her to hold a cable. "Think, think, think," he muttered tossing around cables and flicking switches. "Taking the residual energy, invert it, feed it through the electricity beds."

"There isn't enough power," Novice Hame told him.

"Ah, you've got power! You've got me! I'm brilliant with computers, just you watch. Hame, every switch on that bank up to maximum!" the Doctor continued to run around tweaking switches and screens, using the sonic-screwdriver where necessary. "I can't power up the city, but all the city needs are people."

"So what are you going to do?" Hame asked as she flips the last switch on the bank and turns to face the Doctor who was dashing about before stopping in front of a big switch.

"This!" the Doctor cried with a wide grin as he pulled a leaver. "But suddenly all the computers powered down. "No, no, no, no, no, no!" He ran back to his spot on the floor and used the sonic. He had cables looped around his shoulders and was working frantically. He knew that Sam wouldn't have long if the car was back on. "The transformers are blocked. The signal can't get through."

"Doctor…" the Face of Boe tried to say.

"Yeah, hold on, not now," he said impatiently before yelling over his shoulder, "Novice Hame, drop the wires and keep a hold on that switch."

She did as he told and watched the Face of Boe on the side carefully. He wasn't looking very good at the moment, but he still wanted to help. "Doctor," she said, trying to get his attention.

"Just keep it down," the Doctor directed, "The signal should get through, just hold on."

' _I give you my life,'_ his words were cut off as a wind blows through the place, the Face of Boe gave his life force to keep the power running. Every computer switched back on and the power came back. The Doctor's face lit up, despite the fact Boe was now in a critical shape.

"Hame, look after him," the Doctor ordered, jumping up and ran to the leaver again. "Don't you go dying on me you big old face! You've got to see this." Then, he threw the switch. "The open road. Ha!" Seeing a camera and a transmitter, he ran over to that. "Is this where Sally Calypso broadcasted from?"

"Yes, but she was just a recording, a hologram," Hame said, as she attended to the Face of Boe.

He used the sonic-screwdriver to get it going and smiled when a light showed him broadcasting. "Sorry," he said to everyone on the motorway. "No Sally Calypso, she was just a hologram. My name's the Doctor and this is an order. Everyone drive up, right now. I've opened the roof of the motorway. Come on, throttle those engines. Drive up. All of you, the whole Under-city. Drive up, drive up, drive up!" he cried getting happier by the moment as he saw cars starting to emerge into the city, through the window. "We've got to clear that fast lane. Drive up and get out of the way. Oi! Car four six five diamond six! Sam! Drive up!"

'Did I tell you, Doctor? You're not bad sir. You're not that bad at all!' Brannigan cried happily down the line.

"You keep driving, Brannigan, all the way up," the Doctor grinned happily, going over to look out the window. "Cause it's here, just waiting for you. The city of New, New York and it's yours." He watched in delight as billions of cars drove out of the motorway. "And don't forget, I want that coat back."

"I recon that's a fair bargain, sir."

"Doctor." Hame called him softly from behind him, and he spun around to see the Face of Boe was breathing hardly. "I don't think he got much time, but he needs to tell you something. Something important."

0o0

The three of them had just managed to make it away, but the car was still shaking as the claws snapped at the. Suddenly, the monitor switched and a wonderfully familiar face appeared to the transmitter, 'Oi! Car four five diamond six. Sam! Drive up!'

"It's the Doctor!" Sam told them as he drew a shocked breath. He turned to Milo, feeling a rush of relief. "Do as he says, drive up!"

Milo shook his head. "We can't, we'll hit the layer!"

"Milo, please just do it," Cheen insisted. "You heard his stories about the Doctor, and it can't hurt to try."

With an air of resignation, Milo tried once more to pull the car upwards. To his and Cheen's obvious surprise, the car obeyed, pulling them straight up to the higher elves, away from the beast below, away from even the foggy lanes. Cheen let out a breathless laugh. "It's daylight. Oh my god, that's the sky. The real sky."

Sam couldn't help but laugh with relief. They were safe, the three of them are safe; Cheen, Milo, the baby, and him, they had all made it from here and now they were going to fly on the clear sky in disbelief.

The Doctor's voice came again. 'Car four five six diamond six, I've sent you a flight path. Come to the Senate'

Sam nodded. "Okay!"

'It's been quite a while since I saw you, Sam Piper' his voice came again softly with relieved and happiness.

His transmission ended, but only a few seconds passed before another's took its place. 'Hello there. Is this car four six five diamond six?' It was a man's voice with a funny accent.

"Yes." Milo answered with a cautious, "Who's this?"

'My name's Brannigan. Is there a certain Sam Piper on board by any chance?'

"Yes, that's me." the boy answered to him.

A hearty chuckle sounded from the other surprise. 'Glad to hear you made it boy. That Doctor of yours hitched a ride with us trying to find you. He was rather adamant about the whole thing. Started jumping cars just to get you. I don't envy him, having to go through that bloody fumes, risking his life away.'

"Really?" Sam responded, confused.

'Yeah! He's really worried about you, I just here to tell you he left his long jacket in me car.' Brannigan told him. 'Can you pass it on him? I'm might be in a hurry here, so please say our blessing to him when you take the jacket.'

"I will!"

Milo took over the controls. "We're almost at the Senate. We should be dropping you off soon, Sam." He gave him a sheepish look. "Sorry for getting you into that."

He shook Milo's hand, but Cheen surprised him by pulling him into a tight hug. "Be safe," the woman whispered warmly. "And let us know if you ever come back into town, yeah?"

"Okay! And uh, good luck with your baby."

Cheen smiled at him. "I will."

0o0

After they dropped him off at the Senate, Sam waited a while for Brannigan to show up and finally they met at the front floor of the place. He was so surprise that Brannigan was actually a sort of cat man and he was traveling with his wife who was so much human, he was nice and friendly also remind him of his eccentric drama teacher who got a booming voice. He gave Sam the Doctor's coat; telling the boy how the man was moaning about his loves for the coat and hated that he need to leave it. In the end, they finally took off to a new better life together with their children, or kittens? He needs to ask the Doctor about that.

Sam rushed into the building, eager to see the Doctor again. The large huge building seemed eerily silent, and when he made it into the main hall, the first thing he noticed was the cold atmosphere, and the skeletons scattered around the whole room. The sight before him made his face fall, but the Doctor's voice distracted him from them.

"Sam! Over here."

He looked up to see the Time Lord crouched by what appeared to be an enormous face inside the jar that looked sickly in pain and trying to breath hard. A woman with the head of a cat, the same with Brannigan, watched nearby; a look of sorrow in her expression as she looked on the giant face. An odd scene, yet something was sad about it.

"It's alright." the Doctor told him. His voice was soft as he waved him over. "Come on, it's fine. Sam, this is the Face of Boe. It's all right. Come and say hello." He waved a hand briefly at the cat as he added, "And this is Hame. She's a cat. Don't worry."

He nodded at them.

The Time Lord turned back to the Face of Boe. "He's the one that saved you, not me."

Sam approached slowly, avoiding skeletons and burned wires as he stood in front of the face. It looked up at him with a kindly familiar old expression, his eyes warm even as he fought for life. He can't help to suddenly felt sad for him, but it doesn't make sense because he was pretty sure never met a face inside a jar in his entire life.

"My lord gave his life to save the city," Hame spoke behind them as she added solemnly. "And now, he's dying."

"No, don't say that," the Doctor insisted with a fake, cheerful grin. "Not old Boe. Plenty of life left."

The Face of Boe took a deep, shuddering breath. 'I might not be able to breath the air, yet I am glad to see the clear sky.' He rumbled. The voice didn't come from his lips; instead it echoed inside Sam's head, warm, ancient, and slowly weakening.

Sam reached out a hand to stroke the glass, sympathy welling up for the one who had saved his life. "What happened to him?"

"The city had died from a deadly virus, and he saved them all by wiring himself to keep the power from failing," the Doctor answered distractedly, gaze fixed on the giant face. "He used half of his life to opened up the sky and helped the others who were stuck down-town. Now we don't know what's going to happen."

"He's dying." Hame stated.

 _'Hello again, Sam Piper.'_  the Face of Boe sounded in Sam's mind. He shook his head, bewildered.  _'I am glad that you are safe.'_

"How do you know my name?" Sam asked him.

A chuckled sounded.  _'That's not important.'_

"There is, old friend," the Time Lord answered distractedly, gaze fixed on the giant face. "Legend says the Face of Boe has lived for billions of years. Isn't that right?" He asked the dying face. "And you're not about to give up now."

The Face of Boe let out a weary sigh.  _'Everything has its time,'_  he reminded the Doctor. _'You know that, old friend, better than most.'_

"The legend says more," Hame reminded them tentatively.

The Doctor shook his head firmly. "Don't. There's no need for that."

"It says that the Face of Boe will speak his final secret to an old friend," she pushed on, ignoring the Doctor.

"Yeah, but not yet," the Doctor told the face. He gave a crooked grin, but Sam could see fear in his eyes. "Who needs secrets, eh?"

 _'I have seen so much,'_  the Face of Boe gasped out.  _'Perhaps too much. I am the last of my kind as you are the last of yours.'_

"That's why we have to survive," the Doctor told him. He smiled sadly at the Face of Boe. "Don't go."

Sam was surprised at the sadness in his tone. He barely knows this person, or this face in the matter yet it was killing him to watch him die. He must think it was his fault, the boy realized. He thought that it was his fault that the Face of Boe was dying.

 _'I must. But know this, Time Lord,'_  the Face of Boe spoke once more to the Doctor.  _'The path you walk is not easy. There is heartache in your future. But when all seems lost, do not lose hope, and know this Doctor, you are not alone. Protect the one you love, as her love follow you around and protecting you.'_

With a last, shuddering breath, the Face of Boe stilled forever. Novice Hame was weeping behind them, but the Doctor just looked at his old friend with a blank face, which Sam knew hid the true depth of his loss and his guilt.

0o0

Much later, after talking with Novice Hame about what she could do to help the city, they walked back through the alleys of the under-city towards the TARDIS. As they walked into the alley with the pharmacy stalls, he now noticed how abandoned it looked. All the stalls had signs saying, 'Closed Until Further Notice'.

"All closed down," the Doctor said brightly.

"Happy?" Sam asked, smiling.

"Happy, happy," the Doctor joked. He grinned back at him. "New, New York can start again and they've got Novice Hame. Just what every city needs. Cats in charge." With a final glance around, he started off for the TARDIS. "Come on, time we were off."

As he followed him, Sam asked hesitantly. "Doctor, do you know the words that the Face of Boe meant?"

Sadness crept back into his expression. "No clue." Then it was replaced with the same, goofy grin. "But then again, the Face of Boe had been enigmatic, textbook enigmatic to be exact. Come on, let's get going."

Sam contemplated pressing him for more answers, but it clearly hurt him to talk about it. Whatever he'd lost, it had hurt him deeply, and now he seemed to blame himself for everyone who died when he was there, even when it wasn't his fault. Sam didn't want to put salt in the wounds by making him relieve it. Maybe he was lying to him, and hiding things from him, but he understood not wanting to tell him.

Instead, he gave him a grateful smile. "Thanks for coming to get me today."

He looked at him, surprised at the suggestion. "Of course. You're my friend, it's what I do."

Sam felt warmth in his chest at the word friend. He hadn't had a real friend in a long time, his classmate always thought he was a bit of a menace, also a know it all; always telling the truth as it is, and his classmate always hate it. On impulse, he reached out a hand, which the Doctor took, both to comfort and to assure himself of this new friendship. Hand in hand, the Doctor and his companion headed back to the TARDIS.


	21. It's Time to Go Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The End of the Road.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything, I wish I do but I don't. Everything belongs to the BBC, except my original character; the only thing that they can't claim because it's mine.
> 
> A/N: With great story, come great angst. Well, I did tag it as angst, I mean, friendly reminder that his lovely companion Rose Tyler died, and now he is consume in guilt, so I have this weird concept of him being haunted by her. That's also mean those who don't really ship the Doctor and Rose would love to skip the whole upper part of the stories. Also, friendly reminder about Sam. He's not an ordinary normal child with a loving parents, that's probably why he's got a different reaction than a normal ten year old. That's also why his reaction in this story, anyway! I'll give you the whole explanation in later chapter about this particular character. I do hope he's not a 'marry-sue' type also let me know if he's a bit 'mary-sue type'

When they finally made it back on board the TARDIS, the Doctor said to Sam that he would need a few minutes in the Vortex to recalibrate before he could take him to another adventure, and gave the boy full permission to explore to his heart's content until that time, or he could take a nap inside his room. Commenting on how small little humans like him needs more rest than the average human. That it was the result of his descendant love to sleep their days away, and now the average human has weak endurance and needs to sleep every day.

That's why, the Doctor was alone in the console room making a few adjustments underneath the TARDIS. The truth is, he needed to get his mind away from the long, reminiscent conversation he had with himself about their recent adventure he had with his newly companion. Those thought had probably come from what the Face of Boe told him, because he was right; the Doctor's path was never easy, the universe has never been kind to him. It was his punishment for what he done, a crime he committed that it silences the universe. His recent adventure was enough to prove his fear.

Fear that one day he would be gone, one day he would disappeared, and it would be all his fault. One day, the glint of innocent, the sweet soft laugh he had, would disappear. He can't do that to him, it wasn't fair for him to take his childhood away and filled it with darkness, despair, and the whole awful thing the universe would throw at him, just because he was some lonely battered Time Lord that was selfish enough and wanting some company.

Of course there's the lie he had told him. A lie of himself, telling him the tale of him being a traveller. It was not a complete lie, he was just going to travel around the universe; yet he can't help to intervene, to help people. But he wasn't always helping people, he also destroyed. He destroyed them who test his mercy, he destroyed them who wanted to rule the universe and wreck it, he destroyed those who intervene with time. It was his nature, as a Time Lord. What Sam sees now is just a small glint of what's really on the inside, and he feared that if- no, not if, when the time would come, he would see him for who he really was. Because of the real monster hiding deep inside of himself just waiting to claw out from its cage.

Maybe that was the other reason why he's been thinking about taking the boy home. No, not maybe-that was exactly the reason. He was afraid that the boy would see him fully, see everything that he was and it would scare him away; even he himself scared at times.

Crawling out from underneath the console, the Doctor brushed himself off. Dark smudges of oil stained his suit again, and he had just created more.

"You know she hates that."

He looked up to see Rose leaning against the console looking down at her with a tongue teeth grin.

"Rose, this is my ship. I know what she needs and want." the Doctor replied with a small smile. "Well, sometimes she did electrocute me if I poke around where she didn't like."

Rose smiled briefly. "Yeah, I can imagine." She paused for a second as she places her hand and stroke the console affectionately. "I miss this place."

The Time Lord didn't turn his head towards her, instead he only lowered his head, he closed his eyes and let out a breath.

"I'm sorry."

"How many times I have told you?" Rose asked. She turned to him. "It's not your fault, Doctor."

He snorted. "Oh no, I only managed to whisk you away from your mother and your normal safe life to travel with me and lost your life. You're right, I shouldn't feel guilty about that."

"Don't." Rose said firmly. Pushing herself off the railing, she placed her hands on his forearm. "You didn't do anything, Doctor. Stop blaming yourself. I know this guilt would just eat you and this is the exact reason why you're planning to send Sam home."

The Doctor was about to object but she beat him to it.

"No, just listen. I think what you're going to do is a big mistake." Rose said to him. She cupped her hands on his face. "You know you can't travel alone, and we both know how you need a companion to travel with you. You can't always hang on me forever; Doctor so please don't send him home."

"That's where the idea come from Rose," the Doctor said. His hand gripped her hands and walked away. "I fear that one day, I would be so desperate to keep him with me, I've placed him in danger already in our first few traveling days together. I have duty of care for my friends and companion yet I ignored them because I am just an old selfish Time Lord who selfishly took a child. A child that could be so much more and yet here I am forcefully taking his innocent life away moment by moment. Until one day he will lose his sanity or worse his-"

"His what, Doctor?"

He shook his head and faced her. "I can't break another promise, not again. That's why I'm getting him home, and it's not your decision or either mine to let him stay."

"Then you made the wrong decision Doctor, and you know that." Rose paused for a moment to study him before lowering her head. "Please, don't do this to yourself. I can't just sit by and do nothing when you're alone."

The Doctor turned his body away to place a hand under her chin, bringing her eyes back to his. "I have you here, with me. You've given me so much more, and you'll continue to do so. None of those things concern me when I'm with you right here in the TARDIS with me," he raised his hand to brush back a stray hair behind her ear before keeping it on her cheek. "It's more than I could ever want."

"But you know I won't be with you forever." Rose said as she gave him a watery smile, before brushing his side softly. "I'm not even here Doctor."

Pushing back, he gave her a haunted look. "I know."

"Doctor, look at me," Rose cried but he kept his back to her.

His head and shoulders slumped but still did not turn to face her. "It's my ship Rose, and if I say he can't stay, then he can't."

"You're being selfish right now Doctor, trying deciding what's best for him and not even letting him decide," Rose shot back at him. "Don't you think you should ask him first. It was his decision to come with you after all, we all did Doctor."

"It's for the best."

0o0

Sam woke up and for a moment didn't realize where he was. Opening his eyes, it all came back to him, he wasn't feeling well earlier probably because of the rain on New Earth and the humid hoover car he was stuck in. His body hurts and he felt a fever coming up after the adventure, yet he didn't say anything to the Doctor because the moment they arrived inside the TARDIS; there's only grim silent that made him worried and a bit scared.

With a tight smile, he remembered leaving the Doctor alone after he told him about going on alone as he's going to fix something inside the TARDIS. He let out a large yawn as he opened the door and shed his dirty clothes and jacket in favour of his comfortable and incredibly clean jims jams. As he climbed into bed, Sam found himself a bit uncomfortable wished he had made some tea before going to bed. It wasn't horrible, but it was enough to make him wriggle in his bed a bit.

The next thing he saw was a pill bottle and a glass of water suddenly appeared on his nightstand with a humming noise that wake him up. Sam glanced around his room warily before he picked up the bottle and it was a bottle of a paracetamol. A calming hum echoed in his mind, and he jumped in surprised as he stared in shock at the TARDIS wall. It was the second time he heard the calming hum, the ships were alive and he knows it, yet it was a bit strange.

The last thing he remembered before going to bed was taking a small doze of medicine the ship provides him and now he felt a bit better than last night. It still overwhelmed him that this ship was just so impossible and yet so amazing. His room was dimly lit, but as he sat up and brought his legs to the edge of his bed they become brighter.

Smiling up at the ceiling he said, "Thank You."

A peaceful familiar hum replied to him and he smiled, getting up from his bed and made his way to the console room. He thought about the last few days he had that were beyond unbelievable but also terrifying. Going to the future and helped a Star Whale also meeting Liz Ten, then going into the future to see Earth so many centuries ahead, New Earth. This was an exciting life for sure.

Finding his way to the console room he smiled at the sight before him. The Doctor was standing in the middle of the console, making the familiar dance as he run the TARDIS machine. Although there was something about him that made today would be different, something about his face that made him hesitant to walked on the console.

"Ah! Sam Piper!" the Doctor exclaimed as he noticed the boy who was standing in the corridor, shoved his hands in his pocket and wearing the mask, changing the solemn look into a cheerful one. "Enjoy your rest?"

Sam nodded, "Yeah, that was the most comfortable bed I've ever slept on," he said with a smile. "It's like sleepin' on clouds."

The Doctor tilted his head. "Well, technically if you were attempt sleeping on a cloud, you'd fall right through it. But if you were go to Cloudnimbus, those clouds are like big balls of cotton, you can sleep on it!"

"Can we check it out?" Sam asked him. He smiled at him with excitement.

The Time Lord smiled faltered. "I need to tell you something."

"What is it?"

He looked straight to the boy who was smiling as he looked up to him. The smile that could charm an empire, the sweet innocent smile that would be erased by the cruel world he was showing. He could already picture Sam leaving by his own choice after an adventure that had proved too much for him or worse.

"I'm taking you back home, I'm sorry Sam." the Doctor told him. He swallowed a lump of guilt in his throat.

"Okay."

"Okay?" the Doctor frowned. He was waiting for angrier reaction towards him, he actually expected that. "You're not angry at me for sending you home right now?"

Sam shook his head. "I mean, you did promise me a trip and we did so I guess that's done and you're right. I need to go home. Just promise me that you'll land not too late or early, don't want to create a havoc that's all."

"Of course." the Doctor told him. He forced a smile and trying to town down a familiar memory. "I'll take you home on time."

With that the Doctor turned and finished a few adjustments to the console and flicking towards the buttons as the room filled with wheezing sound that signalling they were now off to home. But where is home? For him, home is a place where he would be ignored or yelled at, home is this cold place on Christmas Day, an empty place for him.

And the Doctor was right, he needs to go back, he can't be selfish and just leave it all behind. But there's the strange feeling in his heart that made him wanted to scream at the Doctor, to be angry and yet those feeling would go away as he stomped it down like he would usually do when there's something he didn't like. He can't be angry at him or stomping his foot about it, he can't. He would be just another ungrateful child, like his aunt would tell him; he won't question his decision. It was probably for the best, right?

But this was the Doctor. He is not his aunt that would yell at him for asking too much question, he is not his uncle who only looked annoyed and grunted at him if he asks any question at all, he won't be angry with him if he asks question. Didn't he told him to ask as many questions as possible? That he couldn't help it. Maybe he should just ask the reason why would he take him home now. Whatever the reason is, at least he knows why. He got a reason why he has no parents, he got tons of reason why people would ignore him, and he got a reasons why he was mark a menace. So there must be a reason for this, whether or not is good nor bad, he didn't care much; he just needs a reason why. Walking towards him, he gathers the courage to speak up.

"Doctor-"

The TARDIS suddenly let out a beeping alarm. It shook and tipped like a frail rowboat in an angry storm. Sam looked up at the time rotor, and gripped the side of the console with both of his hands as he saw the Doctor face hardened in alarmed. It was like being on a roller coaster ride without any safety straps.

In a seconds, they all jolted to the ground landed hard on their back. They sat up and looked at each other with a nervous glanced. Sam hurriedly stood up and walked outside ignoring the Doctor warning as he opened the door and revealed a place that is definitely not Earth. The Doctor finally caught off with him and grabbed as he was going to scold him until he realized where they had landed.

"Well, I guess one adventure won't hurt anyone."


	22. The Girl in the Fireplace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arriving on an empty ship, the Doctor and Sam Piper wondered if another adventure won't hurt anyone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I declare that I do not own anything related to Doctor Who except my Original Character. The purpose of this story are for entertainment only.
> 
> A/N: Well, the next episode is the episode where a lot of people love yet also hates. For me, I choose this episode because how in the episode the Doctor just left his companions alone in danger and I think it fits perfectly with this. Of course personally, I loves the episode because there was Madam de Pompadour but I also hates it because they didn't get her correctly. Yet I loves it because of the clock android they have in the show, and also the tune or soundtrack of the show was just soft and yet sad at the same time. I just have a lot of emotions of this episode, alright? I hate and loves it at the same time. I am torn away in loving it and also hating it because how weak the episode was but I also loves how the clock android work and how cool it is.
> 
> Anyway! Don't let me blabber away.
> 
> Onto the story!

A spaceship. Apparently they had landed on a spaceship, on a fifty-first century spaceship would be his best guess and it also empty. Pacing around, examining their new surroundings. It was an ample sized room, lined with metal. There were random recesses with softly glowing panels, but it wasn't enough to light to properly illuminate the space.

One glance of the sharp angles of the architecture told Sam that they were definitely in some future spaceship, it wasn't as polished as the Millennium Falcon or the USS Enterprise that he watched on television. Most of the parts in fact, looked dingy and broken; various wires and random bits of machinery were strewn on the floor and hanging off from the ceiling.

"It looks empty." Sam said, confused. "Anyone on board?"

The Doctor shrugged, "Nah nothing here, well nothing dangerous," he corrected himself before he continued. "Well, not that dangerous!" He paused briefly and glanced over at his companion and thought about it for a moment, "You know what, I'll just have a quick scan, in case there's anything dangerous," he decided before he turned and made his way over to the ships console.

"So, when are we?" Sam asked him as he saw the Doctor smiled at him.

"About three thousand years into your future, give or take," the Doctor replied as he scanned the console with his eyes, before his gaze lighted on a small lever.

At the same time, the lights flickered on and a panel that had been covering a thick pane of glass above them began to open, and Sam couldn't help to tilted his head up and stared in awe, completely unaware that a soft gasp escaped him as his lips parted in a small gape. There was a beautiful, colourful nebula swirling in the distance, that was alive with bright stars.

The Doctor smiled at him fondly, before returning his own gaze to the spectacular view, "Fifty-First Century. Dagmar Cluster," he informed him, before briefly glancing over at Sam as he moved towards a porthole, "You're a long way from home, Sam! Two and a half galaxies."

"Yeah." Sam answered him. His smiled fall a bit as he walked a back to him.

"Dear me, had some cowboys in here!" the Doctor said as he rummaged around the console, a distinctly unimpressed expression on his face as he picked up various pieces of technology that had been left on the console. Got a ton of repair work going on." He chucked a few random bits around casually, then stopped and examine a diagram. "Now that's odd, look at that. All the warp engines are going full capacity! There's enough power running through this ship to punch a hole in the universe. And we're not moving. So where's all that power going?"

"Where is everyone?" Sam asked as he glanced around the room they were in.

"Good question," the Doctor hummed as he leaned forward and tweaked a couple of the knobs on the console, "No life readings on board."

"Well, can they go on a little spacewalk?" Sam asked again.

"Nope, all spacesuit is in tac, complete, and secure, checked on it earlier.," the Doctor replied and then paused as he become aware of a scent in the air and he sniffed, "Can you smell that?"

Sam sniffed the air and nodded, "Yeah, someone's cooking." His brows scrunched as he frowned pensively. "But didn't you say that there weren't any life readings?"

The Doctor glanced at him, their eyes met, "Yes I did," he murmured with a small nod, before turned his gaze back to the console.

"So who's cooking?" Sam muttered with a small shiver that had him pulling his coat closer as the scent of roast meal filled his nose.

Beside him, the Doctor hit a button and behind them a door slid open. They walked into the next room and Sam blinked with surprise at the ornate fireplace that stood against the far, otherwise metal, wall, an ormolu clock set on the mantelpiece. It was beautiful, yet it was also entirely out of place in the rundown Fifty-First Century spaceship they were in.

"Well, there's something you don't see in your average spaceship," the Doctor murmured intrigued as he wandered over to it, "Eighteenth Century! French! Nice mantel." He pulled out his sonic screwdriver from his pocket and pointed it at the fireplace, "Not a hologram."

Sam took a step closer, reaching a hand out towards the blazing fire, feeling the warmth heating his fingers through his hands and smiled crouching down to it, his gaze locked on the flames that were licking against the small pile of wood. It reminded him on a cold day of him being alone inside the house trying to warm himself. The memory distraught him a bit, did he really want to go back home? Home for him was huddling by himself in the fireplace, feeling alone in the house where the people hated you and choosing to ignore you or being their stress box as they scream at you.

"It's not even a reproduction," the Doctor exclaimed with surprise, bending in towards the mantel to examine it closer and Sam glanced up at him from where he was crouching in front of the fireplace, "This actually is an Eighteenth Century French fireplace."

In a moment, Sam stilled having caught something out of the corner of his eyes and then blinked rather shocked at the little blonde haired girl around his age, in a nightgown who was staring at him with curious look from the other side of the fireplace, surprise written all over her face. Sam's mouth fell open in a small of an 'o' as he gaped back at the child as he tried to find his voice amid in shock.

"Double sided. There's another room through there," the Doctor continued unaware.

"Uh, hi…" Sam murmured awkwardly to her who'd remained still as they'd simply stared at each other in equal amounts of shock.

The Doctor blinked, his eyes curious as he glanced down at Sam who was staring rather fixedly through the fireplace, he quickly crouched down as a small voice replied Sam's greeting.

"Hello."

His gaze landed on the small child and he smiled, "Hello!"

The little girl flicked her gaze over to him, surprised all over again at seeing not one, but two people in her fireplace, "Hello," she greeted again, her voice small and cautious, her gaze flicking from one to the other.

"What's your name?" the Doctor asked.

The little girl focused her gaze on him, "Reinette."

"That's a pretty name," Sam murmured softly and the little girl smiled at him for the compliment.

"Lovely name," the Doctor agreed with an encouraging smile. "Can you tell me where you are at the moment, Reinette?"

"In my bedroom," the girl said, sounding a little suspicious.

"And where's your bedroom?" the Doctor asked. "Where do you live, Reinette?"

"Paris, of course!" she said quickly.

"Paris, right!" the Doctor nodded slowly as he glanced at the fireplace they were crouched in front of thoughtfully.

"Monsieur, what are you doing in my fireplace?" Reinette asked curiously.

"Oh um…" Sam floundered a bit helplessly.

"Oh, it's just a routine fire check," the Doctor replied lamely, shooting a quick grin at Sam as he shot him a confused look. He turned his attention back to Reinette who was staring at them with eyes full of curiosity now, "Can you tell me what year it is?"

"Of course I can!" Reinette exclaimed. Her curious look turned mildly indignant. "Seventy hundred and twenty-seven."

"Right, lovely. One of my favourites, august was rubbish though. Stay indoors." He continued to pay more attention to the protuberances of the fireplace than the little girl. "Okay, that's all for now. Thanks for your help, hope you enjoy the rest of the fire. Night, night!"

"Goodnight monsieur."

With a daft grin, he got back to his feet.

"So, if this fifty-first century, how did we just talk to the eighteenth?" Sam asked as he stood next to him. "Is it some kind of magic door?"

"Of course not," the Doctor told him. He moved forward to the fireplace. If you'd recall, I also said that this ship was generating enough power to punch a hole in the universe I think we just found the hole," He muttered. "Must be a spatio-temporal hyperlink."

"You made that up," Sam accused with an arched brow.

"Yes I did," the Doctor said unapologetically. He wrinkled his nose, making a face as he admitted. "Didn't want to say magic door."

"What's wrong with calling it a 'magic door?" Sam asked, glancing to the Doctor but he didn't answer and instead tugged at his ear as he shrugged and walked towards the other parts of the ship.

He frowned and confused, it felt as if the Doctor felt a bit distant. Sam didn't like that, if he's really going back home, at least everything was fine between them, he didn't want to lose his friend. Turning back, he tried to look at the fireplace and examining it further with curious eyes, there was something about it that attract his attention.

Running a hand slowly to the side, he ran his fingers to the underside of the mantel until he felt a dip in the wood. On a hunch, he dipped his finger deeper and felt a button, eagerly he pressed the button and was suddenly being swivelled around to the other side of the magic door, he gripped at the mantel he had been looking at to keep his balance as the whole section of the wall rotated, taking him to the other side of the magic door.

"Sam!" the Doctor shouted as he rushed towards the mantel, but it was too late for him to be able to do anything but watch as the fireplace stole his companion away as it clicked back into place, leaving him alone in the room.


	23. Fear of the Broken Clock

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: No, no, never, never, uh, uh, uh, *clap* *clap* I never own anything related to Doctor Who except my Original Character.
> 
> A/N: Here we are, through the magic door is France where Madame de Pompadour lives. Accidental meeting happened to both of them, because why not? Besides, there would be a lot changes through this episode, and I sort of tweak a bit; that's what I always do with every episode I wanted anyway. I love this episode because of the android clockwork they have. Like it was so cool! It was the coolest enemy in Doctor Who, after Zagreus, and the Trickster; well the Trickster only appear on Sarah Jane Adventures, but SJA is in Doctor Who universe. So, does it count as a Doctor Who villains? I think it does!
> 
> Anyway! Onto the story!

The fireplace stopped moving and Sam released the mantel turning from it, he was already inside another room as the hearth sealed shut behind him with a soft thunk of wood against wood. It was dark, the flames were no longer lit, and he could barely see the slumbering form of the little girl, the same little girl he just saw a minute ago in her bed followed by only a ticking of a clock the loudest noise in the room. When his eyes adjusted, he took a quick look of the room and walked over to the window. He pulled back the gauzy curtains and looked out at a snowy French village.

"Oh, definitely a magic door," Sam breathed softly.

A startled gasp interrupted his explorations, and Sam whirled around to see the girl, Reinette awoke with a gasp, sitting rather wide-eyed at seeing his figures in her room.

"Hello, sorry," Sam quickly assured, holding up his hands. "Please don't scream. It's me, it's the fireplace inspector. Look," he murmured walking over to her, lighting a candle at her bedside so that she could see him. "We met a moment ago, in your fireplace." He reminded her as Reinette continued to stare at him with wide startled eyes.

"I don't mean to startle you," Sam attempted to reassure her, scratching the back of his ear, nervously.

Reinette started at him a moment longer, "But that was weeks ago! That was months!"

"Was it?" Sam blinked, in surprised. "But that's not right, we just met a few minutes ago."

"Who are you?" Reinette demanded. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm Sam, and I sort of got here by accident." Sam told her. He gave her a smile. "I come here from the fireplace, it's sort of some long weird word the Doctor told me, but I think it's just a magic door."

"A magic door? The Doctor?"

"Yeah, the man with the spiky brown hair and weird pinstriped suit?" Sam told her. He gazes at her. "He's the fireplace man who was with me at the time."

"Weird pinstriped suit, well I must say that's a bit rude," a familiar voice came out of the dark.

Both of them jumped slightly and clutched their chest. The Doctor was smiling in amusement when he saw Sam turned around and looked annoyed at him as Reinette looking at him with confused and surprised look.

"Is sneaking a Time Lord power?"

"Sorry, can't help it." the Doctor told him. He stood and came towards them from the fireplace with a daft grin. "Well, this is a surprise, isn't it?"

"Do you know him, Sam?" Reinette asked him. She gave the Doctor a confused and suspicious looked, clearly the girl didn't trust him.

"Yeah, he's the man that I mention about." he said.

He stood to address the little girl's concern, but the clock on the mantel stopped him in his tracks. There was ticking in the room, but the clock was cracked and broken.

"Okay, that's scary." the Doctor muttered and Sam turned his gaze back to the Doctor and lifted his gaze to where he seemed to be looking and stilled at the sight of the clock on the mantel of the fireplace, his eyes widening at the loud ticking in the room, he hadn't noticed another clock in here, and it was broken.

Reinette started at the fireplace man quizzically. "You're scared of a broken clock?"

"Just a bit yeah," the Doctor replied.

Reinette glanced over at the boy and frowned a bit at seeing him standing still, "What's wrong, Sam?"

He only keeps staring at the broken clock on the mantel with fear in his eyes. This was not good, and whatever it was, the ticking was getting louder. The Doctor must realize this too as he looked back at them.

"Just a little tiny bit," the Doctor continued. "Cos, you see, if this clock's broken and it's the only clock in the room." He paused and turned away from the fireplace looking at both Sam and Reinette. "Then what's that?"

The ticking in the room grew louder still, and Sam felt a small hand slip into his, looking down, he saw Reinette looking with her eyes wide with fear now. He tightened his grip reassuringly and Reinette shifted on the mattress pressing a bit closer to the boy, her hand tightening to the hand she'd latched into.

"I don't think that's a clock," the Doctor told them. H walked slowly away from the fireplace towards the source of the sound. "Can tell by the resonance. It's too big. Six feet, I'd say. The size of a man."

"What is it?" Reinette asked, her voice wavering slightly as she watched the Doctor check behind the curtains.

He stepped away when he found nothing, "Now let's think," he murmured faster now as his mind raced, "If you were a thing that ticked and you were hiding in someone's bedroom, first thing you do; break the clock. No one notices the sound of once clock ticking, but?" he paused as he turned his gaze through the room again, "You might start to wonder if you're alone."

"Now Reinette," the Doctor murmured, his voice soft and reassuring and drawing the little girl's eyes to him, "I need you to do me a favour. I know it's going to be hard, because I agree holding hand is brilliant to do especially when you're scared. But I need you to let go of Sam's hand for a while, so both of you can stay on the bed, right in the middle." He reassured and slowly Reinette released her grip on the boy's hand making Sam finally climbed up fully on top of the bed as the girl scrambled next to him. "Don't put your hands or feet over the edge. Both of you." He warned them for the last time.

Satisfied that both Sam and Reinette were safe, he peered under the bed softly as he pointed his sonic and flicked it on, the tip flashing as it moved to scan. A figure in the dark suddenly knocked it out of his hand with a high-pitched buzz and grind of gears. The Doctor fell over in surprise but quickly righted himself and darted back under. Black shoes with shiny buckles were visible across the floorboards. He cautiously got to his knees and saw a ticking figure on the other side of the mattress.

"It's alright, don't be scared," the Doctor told them as he smiled softly, comforting them. "You two just, stay exactly where you are."

Behind the children was an eerie, smiley masked droid dressed in appropriate French clothing. A curly wig framed the dark, pit-like eyes and the ticking reverberated from within its chest. He stared at the figure, before looking down at Reinette on the bed then back to the figure, then back to the girl frowning with disquiet.

"Reinette? I need to do something, would that be okay?" the Doctor quietly asked and she nodded warily. With a gentle smile, he placed his fingers on her temples. "I'm just gonna have a look, alright?"

She took a shuddering breath but nodded again.

"You stay exactly where you are. Hold still, let me look," he murmured and locking his eyes with hers, staring intently, his disquieted expression deepening.

After a moment, he glared up at the droid. Sam almost flinched at the fury in his eyes. "You've been scanning her brain. What, you've crossed two galaxies and thousands of years just to scan a child's brain?" he asked angrily. "What could there be in a little girl's mind worth blowing a hole in the universe? Worth risking her?"

Reinette shook her head. "I don't understand. It wants me?" She turned to stare at the robot. "You want me?"

"Not yet. You are incomplete," the droid told her.

"Incomplete?" the Doctor demanded, rising to his full height. "What's that mean, incomplete? You can answer her, you can answer me. What do you mean, incomplete?"

The android silently walked around the bed and deployed a spinning blade from its hand. A whirring filled the room, but not the comforting noise of the sonic screwdriver. The Doctor backed away towards the fireplace, signalling Sam to get back towards the fireplace. He didn't need to be told twice, as he leapt from the bed but Reinette grabbed onto his hand, holding him back.

"Don't. You'll get hurt," she begged.

"Oh, don't mind about me thank you," the Doctor quipped as he leads the droid to the fireplace.

"Monsieur, be careful!" Reinette cried in alarm.

"Just a nightmare Reinette, don't worry about. Everyone has nightmare," the Doctor reassured her as he began backing away from the droid, "To the fireplace Sam, now!" He ordered to him as he came up beside him, his hand grasping the boy's hand, pulling him behind protectively as they continued to back away from the advancing droid. It slashed again and the Doctor dodged back, pulling Sam with him, the pair reaching the fireplace, "Even monster from under the bed have nightmares, don't you, monster?"

The droid slashed again and the Doctor swiftly dodged to the side and the droid's blade hit the mantel and stuck.

"What do monsters have nightmares about?" Reinette wondered aloud as she watched the droid struggle to free itself from the mantel.

The Doctor grinned at the girl as he pulled on the lever that would take them back to the spaceship. "Me!" he answered cheerfully as they rotated away, leaving behind a very puzzled little girl.

0o0

As soon as they arrived, the droid unstick itself and walked towards them. The two dashed away from the fireplace, as the Doctor grabbed a gun-like object of the rack on the wall. He turned back to the struggling droid and pulled the trigger, spraying an icy substance from it. The struggling droid twitched one last time as it's joints seized as the icy substance froze it, before falling completely still.

"What is that an ice gun?" Sam asked.

"I wish. It's a fire extinguisher." the Doctor told him. He passed it towards him.

"Right," Sam eyed the Fifty-first century fire extinguisher curiously, it was actually kind of nifty he decided. He set the extinguisher down and looked over the droid. "So, where is the droid come from?"

"Here," the Doctor replied simply.

"So, why is it dress up like that?" Sam asked, eyeing the Eighteenth Century, French aristocratic clothes it had donned.

"Field trip to France," the Doctor shrugged, working to remove the droid's face. "Some kind of basic camouflage protocol. Nice needlework. Shame about the face." He pulled the mask off the droid and revealed a clear head full of intricate, golden clockwork.

"Wow," Sam breathed. He walked over to get a better look. "That's beautiful! What is it?"

"Space-age clockwork, I love it! I've got chills!" He grinned broadly as he peered through the transparent face. "Listen, seriously, I mean this from the heart and by the way, count those. It would be a crime, it would be an act of vandalism to disassemble you," the smile faded and was replaced by a thin line. "But that won't stop me."

The Doctor held up the sonic in front of the droid in warning. With a rickety creak, it raised its arm and tapped its shoulder, teleporting through the air in a haze of gold.

"Teleportation?" Sam pointed as the droid teleported away.

"Short range teleport," the Doctor confirmed as he stashed away his sonic screwdriver back into his pocket. He scratched the back of his head. "Can't have got that far. Could still be on board."

Sam looked around, confused. "Where'd it go?"

"Don't go looking for it," the Doctor warned him, jumping onto the fireplace.

"Where are you going?" Sam frowned

"I'll be back in a sec, just wanna check on something." the Doctor called over his shoulder. He waited for a second and turned back to Sam. "Do not wander off. I mean it Sam."

He nodded.

With that, he pushed the button and spun back around into Reinette bedroom. Sam watched him go, then he suddenly heard a rackety sound on the hallway that startled him. Slowly, he walked towards the hallway to check it out, completely forgetting about the Doctor warning as curiosity got the better of him.


	24. A Different Time for Reinette and Arthur

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Me own nothing from Doctor Who except my original character. Maybe someday I would say that I own partially of Doctor Who. A person can dream, eh?
> 
> A/N: Well, hello. Now this is part of the chapter where I write in some silly context notes. But yeah, you already know the drill.
> 
> *turn on Drill*
> 
> His name is Mickey!
> 
> Anyway, we met Arthur a bit early here. There would be a lot of change in this story.

On the other side of the fireplace, the Doctor looked blankly at a room that looked vastly different from the one he'd just left. The sun was shining, and the furniture had been rearranged. He wondered how much time had passed her, he suspected some loose wire in the system made the whole thing gone a bit differently. Yet, it had only been a moment or two for him on the other side of the fireplace.

"Reinette," he called. "Just checking you're okay."

Nothing. He wandered quietly, his eyes roaming the bedroom that was now a plush of red and gold. Everything in the room was different, there were no more children's toys scattered around and the drapery and duvet were more mature colours. A large elegant harp sat in the middle of the floor. He plucked a few of the strings and frowned. Maybe it was more than overnight, it's probably a year or two.

A sound of a throat clearing, interrupted his thoughts. He looked away from the harp into the eyes of a young woman with blonde hair, dressed in a beautiful light blue gown.

"Oh! Hello!" the Doctor said to the young woman standing there. He shoved his glasses back in his pocket and shifted uncomfortable. "Um, I was just looking for Reinette. Uh, this is still her room, isn't it? I've been away, not sure how long."

"Reinette! We're ready to go!" came a voice from down the corridor. The Doctor glanced at the door and then more closely at the young woman standing in front of him.

"Go to the carriage, mother, I will join you there," she called back, her eyes fixed on the Doctor in her room, "I will join you there," Reinette stepped towards them away from her door, "It is customary, I think to have imaginary friend only during one's childhood. You are to be congratulated on your persistence."

"Reinette!" the Doctor said. His voice showing his surprise. "Well, goodness how you've grown."

Reinette eyed him as she came closer, "And neither of you appear to have aged a single day. That is tremendously impolite of you both."

"Right, yes… sorry. Um…" the Doctor muttered floundering a bit on just what he could say to that, "Listen, lovely to catch up but I better be off, eh? Don't want your mother finding you up here with a strange man, do we?" And he needed to get back before Sam got any ideas about looking for the clock droid, or the other way around. His new lovely companion always got a huge target being a trouble magnet on their back.

"Strangers?" Reinette said questioningly as she eyed him with wonder, coming closer still, "How could you be a stranger to me? I've known you since I was seven years old."

"Yeah, I suppose you have," the Doctor nodded. "I came the quick route."

He froze when Reinette reached out and touched his cheek. "Well, you see to be flesh and blood, at any rate," she said, a confused look on her face. "But this is absurd. Reason tells me you cannot be real."

"Oh, you never want to listen to reason," the Doctor shrugged.

A male voice shouted from another part of the house. "Mademoiselle! Your mother grows impatient!"

"A moment!" Reinette called back, annoyed. "So many questions. So little time," she said, looking back at him. Suddenly, she pulled his head down and kissed him hard on the lips while pushing him backwards so they both stumbled back to the mantelpiece. The Doctor was too shocked to do anything at first. It wasn't unpleasant but it wasn't right. He broke the kiss and pushed her gently back.

"Mademoiselle Poisson!" a servant called, closer now.

Before the Doctor could say anything, Reinette went running to catch her ride with her mother. Leaving the Doctor in a daze condition until he realize the name that the servant called her, a familiar famous name that he should have known.

"Poisson?" the Doctor asked out loud, his eyes landing on the manservant who'd stepped into the room in search of the mademoiselle only to stop dead at the sight of him. "Reinette Poisson?" he gaped in realization whilst the manservant stared at him, "No… no, no, no, no, no way! Reinette Poisson?" He shouted, running up to the servant. "Later Madame Etoiles? Later still mistress of Lois the Fifteenth, uncrowned Queen of France? Actress, artist, musician, dancer, courtesan, fantastic gardener!"

"Who the hell are you?" the manservant demanded, no longer bemused at seeing him in the Mademoiselle's bedroom.

"I'm the Doctor, and I just got snogged by Madame de Pompadour!" the Doctor grinned as he turned the fireplace around. "Ha!"

0o0

Sam Piper thought how this was an awful idea as he walked around the corridors, the sounds of metal echoing off the walls with each startling sound. He probably need to consider following the Doctor's rule not wandering off, especially if there's a chance he could meet the clockwork android again, but it was a bit too late for that now, it wasn't his fault that sometimes his body move on his own, without a single comment from his brain. He's just got an awful attention span on something and never really good at following rules. His gaze roamed the walls of the corridor they were in, sniffling a little, it seemed maybe he was getting closer to the kitchens, the scent of roasting meat was heavier in the air now.

A metallic clicking caught his attention and he raised his head to discover a camera whirring and following his every move.

"Hello?" he looked directly at it. "Who's there?"

The camera snaked away from the wall and got closer look to his face. Sam eyes widened as he looked into the lens; it wasn't a regular camera lens; it was an eye. An actual human eye that blinking at him when he blinked and tracked his every move as he shuffled side to side, gauging its movements. It blinked slowly one final time and then retracted up into the ceiling.

"Oh, that's not weird at all." Sam muttered softly.

After the lens of the eye closed, he heard of a strange low 'thump-thump, thump-thump' coming from somewhere nearby. He turned around and searching as he bent down a bit, his eyes landing on a small circular hatch into the bulkhead. He reached for it, curious, only to jerk his hand back only to determine to try again, this time managing to get it open. The boy stared at what was nestled in amongst the wire and pipes was attached what looked like a human heart. The same human heart he would recognize in his school textbook.

"Okay, it's a heart," Sam breathed out in quite disgust as he drawled and closed the hatch. He walked further to the corridor. "What else is on this ship?"

He stopped short as he turned a corner and met a blank face of a large, white horse. It snorted and shook its long mane of hair.

"A horse. Of course," Sam muttered. He smiled for a moment and giggled to himself, founding it hilarious for some reason.

0o0

He continued to laugh in a bit of dazed condition, and pressed the button on the fireplace spin around back into the spaceship.

"Sam?" the Doctor called. Silence echoed around him and he growled in frustration. "Oh, every time! I tell him to stay put, what does he do? Wandering off." He griped as he marched off in the only direction he could have gone, "I mean, it's rule number one. Don't wander off. I tell them. I do. Rule one! There could be anything on this ship!" he muttered rather loudly with his irritation as he carried on with his rather peeved griped as he turned around and his eyes landing on a familiar dark brown haired boy, standing back to him, stroking a white horse.

"Did you make friend?"

Sam turned to him with a smiled then it falls when he saw the Doctor stern angry expression at him. A familiar expression he knows in and out, a familiar expression he hated. He got the same feeling when anyone would be angry at him, the feeling of dreadful fear and anticipation of him as he racked his brain to either flee the scene or faces the consequences.

"You know I told you not to wander off," the Doctor told him in a flat, angry tone. Sam felt himself shiver. It was the same tone he had used when he fought of the Sycorax and facing Liz Ten advisors.

"I-I know," Sam told him. His gaze didn't turn. "It's just I heard something and I thought it was probably one of the crew but then I found this heart and a horse."

"You found a what?"

"A horse and a heart."

"Right, that is a bit weird," the Doctor muttered. He tugged his ear before glancing down at the corridors. "We better get going, let's find out what else in this ship."

Sam looked up at him. "You're not angry at me?"

"No. I'm worried that's what I am," the Doctor told him. His eyes turned to him with a soft gaze. "It may not have been wrong to wander off a bit, but it was daft. We don't know if there's anything dangerous in this ship besides the clockwork android we met. Of course meeting a horse isn't what I would expected on this ship, but the heart started to worried me. So for now on, please don't wander off and stay put if I told you, alright?"

He nodded.

"Fantastic!" he exclaimed and scrunched his nose. "That felt a bit weird, let's just get going before I said something I regret again."

With that, the two of them walked their way towards the corridors. Hoof beats clanged against the metal floor behind the Doctor and Sam as they both wandered the ship in search of the heart that the boy mention. They both stopped to peer down an intersection in the halls when the horse bumped into the Doctor's back.

"Would you stop following me?" the Doctor complained, backing away from it. "I'm not your mother!" He attempted to stopped the horse as he aimed hand into the animal, the horse whined at him as it calmly moved closer nosing up against Sam who reached up with his freehand giving the white horse, another stroke, "Stop encouraging him," he lightly scolded.

The Doctor huffed in annoyance and moved on.

They walked on for a bit, the horse faithfully plodding along behind them. After a while, the Doctor sighed. "Just an ordinary day, isn't it Sam? Become the imaginary friends of a future French aristocrat, pick a fight with a clockwork man, meet a horse," he trailed off.

"How did the horse get on the spaceship?" Sam wondered.

"Through the magic door? Then again, how did pre-revolutionary France get on a spaceship?" the Doctor asked him. "Oh, look at that." He stopped to take a look through another time window, overlooking an extensive garden that they could clearly se Reinette touring through with a companion. A horse and rider trotted around nearby. "Guess this is where you came from, eh, horsey?" he murmured to the horse. He tapped the window experimentally, and it easily swung open.

The Doctor stepped through but stopped Sam with a hand to his chest when he tried to follow him.

"Why can't I come?" he complained.

"Well, because I don't want to risk a history anymore by letting Reinette to see you. It's enough he thought I was her imaginary friend, and took a bit of interest with me." the Doctor said firmly before letting the time window closed behind him, but turned back around for a moment. "Don't wander off and stay with Arthur."

Sam gave him a quizzical look. "Arthur?"

"Good name for a horse."

"Thought you hated the horse?" Sam asked.

"Cos, you petted him and now I grew attach at it," the Doctor replied. He pointed at the ground in a stay put motion then pointed at the both of them. "You. Stay."

Sam gave him a thumbs up and agreed at him.

Ten minutes pass as the Doctor set through the one of the time window. He grew warily and wanting to move, his particular part of his brain kept on pocking him to moved and explore the corridor further, another part of his brain kept on saying to him to stay still and wait until the Doctor's arrived. In the end, his buzzing part of his brain that told him to keep on moving won. Sam continued down the hall they'd been walking down before, keeping a straight distance so the Doctor easily can spot them. Because at least that way, he technically didn't break the Doctor command.

"Come on Arthur," Sam called over his shoulder. He grabbed on the horse strapped and lead the horse. "Might as well see what else we can find."

The horse whined softly in reply to his voice.


	25. Pompous King of French

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything except my original character, everything else belong to the BBC. The purpose of this writing is for fun :
> 
> A/N: Yeah, after this we all know what happened. There's a lot of change of course in this chapter because if not, some of the dialogue in the episode just doesn't fit the personality or the person. Besides, the original one happens with Rose and Mickey while this one happen only with Sam and the Doctor. Also, this is pretty hard to do well I guess for me it's pretty hard to do because you need to think what will happened if the situation was different than the original one.
> 
> Anyway!
> 
> Onward to the story!

The door leads him out onto a green grass of a sprawling immaculate garden. There was a magnificent palace in the distance; Versailles, if he remembered correctly. A tinkling of laughter caught his attention, as he spotted a familiar figure walking. He quickly ducked down over to a low wall and a pillar of stone, leaning against it, obscuring himself from the view as Reinette strolled past, arm in arm with a friend, possibly another lady from the court as he peeking out to watch them.

"Oh, Catherine you're too wicked," Reinette said with a laugh, only to suddenly turn around, catching a sight of something out of the corner of her eye. The Doctor ducked down, behind the pillar and out of view.

"Oh, speaking of wicked," Catherine drew Reinette's attention back and the two began strolling again, "I hear Madame de Chateauroux is ill, and close to death."

"Yes," Reinette agreed, feigned her concern. "I am devastated."

"Oh, indeed," Catherine agreed with a laugh of her own, "I myself am frequently inconsolable. The King will therefore be requiring a new Mistress. You love the King, of course?"

Reinette nodded, "He is the King, and I love him with all my heart. And I look forward to meeting him," she replied, behind them a bird chirped and Reinette looked back again, barely missing the Doctor as he swiftly pulling himself out of sight behind the pillar once more.

Catherine glanced at her with concern, "Is something wrong, my dear?"

"Nothing wrong, no," Reinette responded and linked her arm with Catherine's again as they continued strolling.

"Every woman in Paris knows your ambitions," Catherine commented eyeing her friend.

"Every woman in Paris shares them."

"You know of course, that the King is to attend the Yew Tree ball?"

Reinette grinned, "As am I."

The Doctor watched Reinette as she disappeared into the distance. He wondered how many more windows and doors on the spaceship would open up to scenes from Madame de Pompadour's life

0o0

Sam scratch the back of his ear and lead Arthur further inside the ship. Maybe he should have stayed put where he was, the ship felt like a maze and he hoped he hadn't gotten lost. He should've known he would get lost, his sense of time and direction were awful, people would get irritated at him for either being late or lost. Holding the strapped of the horse, he looked around the corridor for a clue where he was.

He stopped his walk and stared to pass a massive mirror. It peered into an elaborately decorated golden room, with fancy furniture that can be fun in castles or a huge house. A posh dressed man marched into the room flanked by two wig adorned butlers, looking posh and a bit flamboyant. Their clothes were familiar with the clockwork droid, guessing the huge mirror was leading to French again. There's something about this ship and being connected with French, and who's the flamboyant man anyway, he looks a bit familiar. Someone who would jump from his history book.

"That's the King of France," the Doctor said over his shoulder.

Sam jumped into the air and clutched his chest. "Blimey! Stop sneaking up to me like that. How did it go, whatever you did?"

"Fine. See these?" the Doctor answered, pointing at the window. "They're all over the place. I saw them on every deck. Gateways to history, but not just any old history." Reinette entered the room and curtseyed the King. "Hers." He specified. "Time windows, deliberately arranged along the life of one particular woman. A spaceship from the fifty-first century, stalking a woman from the eighteenth. Why?"

"Who is she?" Sam asked, a small crease to his brow.

"Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson," the Doctor replied, "Known to you as Reinette. One of the most accomplished woman who ever lived."

"Wait a minute," Sam said. He turned back to him. "Poisson? As in later turned into Madame de Pompadour, Poisson? Reinette is Madame de Pompadour, we just met Madame de Pompadour?"

"Yes," the Doctor told him. "We did. It surprises me you know about her. Most people don't know who she is, or people just know her as the King Mistress, yet she is much more than that, accomplished a lot more." He gushed at her.

"My history teacher has this weird obsession with French History," Sam said. He squinted his eyebrows, remembering a memory. "She was a bit weird, but she did give us an assignment on writing about Madame de Pompadour and her whole history, and she taught about her with sock puppets, which was more fun."

"Great teacher that is!"

"I guess she is, a bit weird but she is."

The two of them watched as Reinette and King Louis, whispered into each other ear and circled around in a seductive looked.

"I think this is the night they met," the Doctor mused. "The night of the Yew Tree ball. In no time flat, she'll get herself established as his official mistress, with her own rooms at the palace. Even her own title. Madame de Pompadour."

"I'm still don't know why she's the uncrown Queen?" Sam asked him. "I mean, the Queen likes her, right? Why can't they co-Queen together, French could be more awesome, right?"

"France," the Doctor shrugged. "It's a different planet."

"France is a country," Sam frowned.

The Doctor sighed, "It's a figure of speech Sam, and you're also right. But then again, the people might still think the concept of ruler being consist of Queen a bit unusual and not common."

"Bummer," Sam sighed.

King Louis left with his two servants, leaving Reinette alone as she walked closer to the huge mirror to inspect her appearance in the mirror. The sound of a ticking reached them and the Doctor glanced around, his smile slipping away as his eyes landed on a clock on the mantel. A clock that was broken, and yet the sound of a ticking clock persisted.

Reinette paused in her primping as she became aware of the ticking in the room that had been absent the noise just a moment ago. She spun sharply, searching for the source of the ticking landed on a figure of a woman in the corner of the room, her back to her.

"How long have you been standing there!?" she demanded of the figure that was standing in the shadow. "Show yourself!"

The figure slowly spun to reveal a masked face, a familiar face of the clockwork droid. Reinette's eyes further in fear as the figure slowly began to advance. The Doctor grabbed the fire extinguisher from the nearby corridor and swiftly swung the mirror around and hastened into the room towards the advancing droid, Sam following after him.

"Hello Reinette. Hasn't time flown?" the Doctor called her as she turned to look at the newcomers.

"Fireplace man!" she exclaimed as he moved past her, her gaze going to those behind him, "Sam!"

"Hello again," Sam greeted her as the Doctor aimed the extinguisher at the clockwork droid and sprayed it, freezing it in place, he tossed the extinguisher back to him who caught it as he stepped closer to the droid that began to click and whirr loudly.

Sam eyed the droid cautiously, "What's it doing?"

"Switching back on, melting the ice."

"And then what?"

"Then it kills everyone in the room," the Doctor said bluntly, the next moment he was jumping back away from the droid and the arm that it had shot out towards his throat. "Focused the mind, doesn't it?" He called over his shoulder as he backed up a bit, never taking his eyes off the droid, "Who are you?"

It remained silent.

"Identify yourself," he demanded of the droid, only for it to remain silent, merely cocking its head slightly. He glanced over at Reinette, "Order it to answer me."

"Why should it listen to me?" Reinette asked with a furrowed brow.

"I don't know," the Doctor said with a shrug, glancing back at her. "It did when you were a child. Let's see if you've still got it."

"Answer his question," Reinette said with authority, looking at the droid. "Answer any and all questions put to you."

'I am repair droid seven,'

The Doctor frowned at it, "What happened to the ship then? There was a lot of damage."

'Ion storm. Eighty-two percent systems failure,'

"The ship hasn't moved in over a year. What's taken you so long?" the Doctor asked as he eyed the droid incredulously.

'We did not have the parts.'

"What happen to the crew, where are they?" Sam asked.

'We did not have the parts.'

"There should have been over fifty people on your ship," the Doctor insisted. "Where did they go?"

'We did not have the parts,'

"Fifty people don't just disappear. Where-oh," the Doctor paused as horrifying realization dawned on him. "You didn't have the parts, so you used the crew."

"The crew?" Sam asked before he too, figured it out. "The heart, and the eyes." A feeling of dread made him sick to his stomach.

"It was just doing what it was programmed to," the Doctor murmured grimly. He felt bile threatening to rise, "Repairing the ship any way it can, with whatever it could find. No one told the crew weren't on the menu. The cooking smell on the deck."

"Someone's cooking."

"Flesh plus heat. Barbeque." the Doctor grimaced. "But what are you doing here?" He asked the droid. "You've opened up time windows. That takes colossal energy. Why come here? You could have gone to your repair yard. Instead, you come to Eighteenth Century France. Why?"

'One part is required.'

"Then why haven't you taken it?"

'She is incomplete.'

"Wait," the Doctor shook his head, eyeing the droid incredulously once again, "So that's the plan then. Just keep opening up more and more time windows, scanning her brain, checking to see if she's done yet?"

"Why her?" Sam blurted out. "You've got all of history to choose from, yeah. Why specifically her?"

'We are the same.'

"We are not the same!" Reinette protested with confusion and indigence, "We are in no sense the same!"

'We are the same.'

Reinette took an angry step forward, pointing an outraged finger at the droid, "Get out of here! Get out of here this instant!"

"Reinette, no!" the Doctor attempted to stop her, but it was a beat too late as the droid compiled activating it teleport to disappear from sight. "It's back on the ship. Sam, take Arthur. Get after it." He instructed quickly. "Follow it. Don't approach it, just watch what it does."

Sam went to do as he was told, but stopped to say something, "Will the TARDIS even let you bring Arthur on board?"

"Well, she let me keep you," the Doctor teased as he followed him towards the door, "Now go! Go! Go!" He urged them out the door closing the pane behind him, before turning back to the room, marching back towards Reinette.

"Reinette, you're going to have to trust me," the Doctor urged as he stepped in closer to the her, "I need to find out what they're looking for, there's only one way I can do that," he reached up placing his fingers against her temples, his eyes meeting hers earnestly. "It won't hurt a bit." She nodded, and the Doctor took a deep breath before raising his hands and pressing his fingers lightly against her temples.

"Fireplace man," Reinette breathed in wonder. "You are inside my mind."

"Oh dear," he mumbled. "The cowboys have been in here, too."

"You are in my memories. You walk among them."

"If there's anything you don't want me to see, just imagine a door and close it," the Doctor instructed softly at her. "I won't look. Ooh… actually, there's a door just there," he said, noticing a memory that she really shouldn't want him to see. More seemed to crop up. There was no reason for this, unless… oh dear. "Reinette," he said sternly as he sidestepped these.

"To walk among the memories of another living soul. Do you ever get used to this?" Reinette asked quietly.

"I don't make a habit if it."

"How can you resist?" she asked and the Doctor's face confronted in confusion.

"What age are you?"

"So impertinent a question so early in the conversation," Reinette mused, her eyes opening to regard her fireplace man once again, "How promising."

"No, not my question," the Doctor corrected, "Theirs. You're twenty-three and for some reason that means you're not old enough," he muttered, his brow furrowing a bit further in thought and Reinette shut her eyes again focusing, hardly a moment later she flinched, "Sorry," the Doctor apologized, having felt it under the tips of his fingers. "You might find old memories reawakening. Side effect."

"Oh, such a lonely childhood," Reinette gasped out in a whisper, the depth of the feeling threatening to overwhelm her.

"It'll pass," the Doctor assured as he continued to concentrate. "Stay with me."

"Oh Doctor," she murmured with a frown. "So lonely. So very, very alone."

"What do you mean alone?" the Doctor questioned mildly confused by her comments, "You've never been alone in your life-" he trailed his eyes snapping open to stare at her, "When did you start calling me Doctor?"

"Such a lonely little boy," Reinette continued. "A lonelier, broken man," she trailed her brow furrowing further as she found something else, a brighter spot in the incredible mind she was wondering, "And then," her eyes opened meeting his, "A Rose."

The Doctor lowered his hands, stepping away from her and breaking the link he'd created, "That's enough," he murmured quietly but no less firmly, before following Reinette's gaze towards him. "How'd you do that?"

"A door once opened, can be stepped through in either direction," Reinette told him. She turned her attention back to him. "Oh Doctor, dear Doctor," she murmured softly, her teary eyes meeting his. "Dance your pain away with me."

The Doctor swallowed and took a small step back, "I can't."

"Dance with me," Reinette insisted.

"This is the night you dance with the King."

"Then first, I shall make him jealous," Reinette gave him a hint of amusement entering her tone as she refused to be dissuaded.

"I can't." the Doctor protested again. Honestly he couldn't, there were the droids and as lovely as the future Madame de Pompadour was, there's another emergency he needs to solve that involved a boy and a horse. Besides, there was another he'd much prefer to dance with, and she was standing a few feet away from him.

Reinette's lips curved up slightly, mostly charming slime even as her eyes saddened as she regarded him, her eyes meeting his, "Doctor. Doctor Who?" she murmured and the Doctor's eyes darkened in wariness once again as they regarded one another, a moment of silence passing, "It's more than just a secret, isn't it?'

"What do you see?"

"That there comes a time, Time Lord," Reinette replied very seriously as she smiles once more, "When even the saddest man, must learn how to dance." She took his hand, ignoring his frozen face, and began to lead him out.


	26. Murderous Clockwork Droid

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Doctor Who, everything belong to the BBC with the exception of my own original character and some changes in the script.
> 
> A/N: This is where the big change really spot on I guess? Because when I think about the scene where Rose met with Madame de Pompadour isn't an enough satisfactory for me of the portrayal so I change it a bit and of course it become in a sort of when the Doctor met Van Gogh. This is also where I think people tend to forget about the real Madame de Pompadour and how she was not only just the Mistress of the King but she was brilliant, she ran the French politics and even the diplomats of her time was asking for her opinion first about a certain issue. She was so dead brilliant, and I think in this chapter would told her enough for her to regain her sense of determination.
> 
> Anyway! To the story!

On the other side of the mirror, Sam walked out with Arthur on his side. Sam bumped into the horse, as the animal whined and nuzzled his shoulder, eliciting a giggle from his throat. He looked around and tried to find where the droids would run off too as he grabbed the strapped of the horse.

"Come on Arthur," he smiled and stroked the horse muzzle. "Time to find some droids."

He marched down the hall in search of the clockwork droids, not watching where he was going and bumped into one of the clockwork androids. Panicking, Sam whirled around to escape but was quickly snatched by a second droid. Hurriedly, he let go of Arthur making the horse run away as he kicked and screamed with all his might, scaring the horse to running away. One robot gripped him in a bruising hold while the other pressed a needle into his skin, injecting him with a foreign liquid.

His screams died, and Sam slumped to the ground.

0o0

"I could've danced all night, I could've danced all night." the Doctor sang, crashing into objects. He briefly danced wilding with a banana setting a new rage before disappearing once more. He'd nabbed and eventually wearing a sunglasses and his tie around his head, dragging himself back through the corridor of the spaceship.

He led himself down towards the sound, leaning over the ship while giggling happily. "And still have begged for more," the Doctor continued to sang drunkenly as he staggered about the room. "I could've spread my wings and done thou." He spun around, and spotted a familiar white horse. "Arthur! You lovely horse, where have you been?"

Arthur bumped his nuzzle to him, urgently and that made the Doctor giggled even more. "Oh, you silly horse! What are you doing here again?"

He grabbed the strapped gently and his brain finally come around as alcohol has ran through his Time Lord biology and neutralized it, he now realized the strapped should be held by a familiar small little boy holding the strapped and followed the horse, and as he can see; he wasn't there. Panicked started ran through him.

"Sam!" the Doctor shouted as he sprinted down the corridors, frantically darting his eyes down every intersection he passed.

There was only one reason Arthur would have wondered off alone, the droids must have taken him. But where? He barrelled down the halls, he needs to find him quickly.

0o0

Sam's eyes fluttered open as a loud ticking reached him. He squinted a bit as he tried to get his bleary eyes to focus on the shapes that were surrounding him. Ticking reverberated through the room and he felt like he must be surrounded by a hundred of the rids. As the sedative wore off, he realized it was only a handful but that was more than enough for him to realized he was strapped to a table.

"W-what's going on?" he stammered.

He tried to sit up, but he was strapped firmly to a medical gurney buy his wrists and ankles. The entire fleet of the clockwork robots stared at him, ticking and grinding as they waited for the droid by his side to command them. Sam had a sinking feeling that the ship's crew had been shackled to this exact table before they had been gutted for spare parts.

'You are compatible.' the droid declared in a toneless voice.

"What?" Sam squeaked.

A sharp whirring saw propelled out of the droid's hand and hovered by his throat.

"No!" Sam shouted, trashing about to try and get free of his table. His face draining of colour as he tried to lean away from the blade approaching his throat. "No, please!"

'You are compatible.'

It suddenly moved its hand and the teeth of the blade nicked his throat. Sam cringed in pained.

"Compatible?" boomed a voice in the doorway.

The saw stopped, and all of the droids turned in synchronized movement to stare at the Doctor in the entrance.

"More compatible than Madame de Pompadour?" the Doctor scoffed. He strolled casually into the room looking a one of the clockwork. "It's you. You're my favourite, you are. You are the best! Do you know why? Because you're so thick." He blustered. "You're Mister Thick, Thick, Thickity Thick Face from Thick Face from Thick town. And so is your dad."

"Doctor…" Sam said in fear.

"Do you what they were scanning Reinette's brain for?" the Doctor asked. He strolled away from the droid. "Her milometer. They wanna know how old she is. Know why? Cos this ship is thirty-seven years old," he exclaimed mockingly. "And they think when Reinette is thirty-seven, when she is complete, then her brain will bill compatible. See, that's what you're missing isn't it? Hmm? Command circuit. Your computer. Your ship needs a brain and for some reason- Go knows what, only the brain of Madame de Pompadour will do."

'The brain is compatible.' the droid next to Sam said.

"Compatible?" he asked incredulously as he walked back over to it. "If you believe that, you probably believe this."

Quick as a flash, he stuck his hand in his jacket, yanked off the droid's wig and dumped the contents of a bottle onto its head. The red liquid dripped down the face of the robot and its gears seized with a crunch, freezing the clockwork in place.

"Multigrade anti-oil," the Doctor told him. "If it moves, it doesn't.

A cacophony of whirs and ticking filled the air as the remaining droids stiffly marched towards him, outraged over the attack of their leader. The Doctor flicked a switch on a nearby control panel, and the clockwork figures stopped and bent over in suspended animation. With the threat neutralized, the Doctor pulled the sonic from his pocked and unlatched the bars shackling Sam to the table.

"Are you alright?" the Doctor hurried over, using his sonic screwdriver to undo the straps holding Sam to the table. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have stayed."

Sam responded with a slight nod, still shaking a bit.

Next thing he knew, the Doctor was snatching him up in a desperate embrace, he felt the alien stiffened and shivered for a moment. It was a tight relived hug, that he was there, he was safe. From this exact moment, he knows his decision of taking the boy home was the best decision he made, seeing him almost being chopped off, seeing him got hurt was a final warning of the danger travelling with him.

The Doctor let him go and grimaced at the marked on his neck. He hurriedly rummaged through his pockets until he found a plaster and quickly placed it over the cut. "I'm sorry for taking too long. I had to stall them with some kind of rubbish talk. Glad they bought it. Must be really thick."

Sam glanced around at the frozen robots. "Are they safe?"

"Yep, safe," the Doctor said, pulling his tie back down from his head and pushing the glasses up to his hair. "Safe and thick. Way I like them. Okay, all the time windows are controlled from here. I need to close them all down." He began to dig in his pocket," Zeus plugs. Where are my Zeus plugs? I had them a minute ago."

"Why didn't they just open a time window to when she was thirty-seven?"

"With the amount of damage to these circuits, they did well to hit the right century," the Doctor shrugged. "Trial and error after that. The windows aren't closing. Why won't they close?"

A bell went off, and Sam flinched. "What's that?"

"I don't know," the Doctor checked. "Incoming message?"

"From who?"

"Reports from the field," the Doctor answered. "One of them must still be out there with Reinette. That's why I can't close the windows. There's an override."

There was a sudden loud whirring sound and droids on the flight deck all woke up suddenly. Sam's eyes widened and gasped as one of the clockwork droid that the Doctor had knocked out with anti-oil excreted from its hand, letting the fluid run down its sleeve and onto the Doctor's shoes.

"Well, that was a bit clever," the Doctor smiled nervously eyeing the reactivated droid and the lever that he'd pulled to deactivated the other droids clicked back into the on position, all by itself and the other slumped over droids in the room straightened back up with a loud whir, each one of them ticking ominously. "All right. Many things about this are not good." The sound chimed again and he called out to them. "Message from one of your little friends, say anything interesting?"

'She is complete.' the droid announced. 'It begins.'

With that, all of them teleported out.

"What's happening?"

"One of them must have found the right time window. Now it's time to send in the troops," the Doctor explained. He looked at him in the eye. "And this time, they're bringing back her head."

"What?" Sam exclaimed. "But she can't die, I thought she died at forty or somethin?"

"She can't, not yet. She died at seventeenth sixty-four at the age of forty-two," the Doctor told him. He pinched the bridge of his nose and paced the room in irritation. "I need to find that window and stop them."

"What if I went through one of the windows?" Sam thought out loud, trying to suggest a plan. "Would it help if I warned her? We know they are coming when she's thirty-seven. I could tell her to stall somethin'?"

"Yes! That would work. Not for long, but it'll buy us some time." the Doctor told him. He dashed out of the room with him in his tail, fixing his outfit the rest of the way as he ran. He stopped in front of a tapestry and scanned it with his sonic. "Right, okay, Sam! This should lead you to Reinette when she's thirty-two. You need to find her and warn her that they're coming in five years. They programmed to respond to her, she can't stop them but hopefully she can delay them until I can get there."

He nodded and took a stepped inside one of the time window. But before he got too far ahead, the Doctor called out, "Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"Be safe."

With a last nod to try reassured himself, he was off further into the ship hot on his heels, trying to find any time window that would lead him into the right time and saves the history and Reinette's. Leaving Sam staring after for a moment before he took a deep breath and walked through the mirror. A lavish tapestry hung in the hall not far ahead. Hoping this was an ideal time window to enter, he pulled back the drapery and stepped into an elegant music. It was fairly dark, and he tip-toed across the floor, not wanting to alert any guards.

"Madame de Pompadour," Sam called as he stepped into the grand room and the elegant woman in question let out a gasp of surprise and whirled around. "Sorry! Please, don't scream. It's nice to see you again but we don't have a lot of time. I've come to warn you that they'll be here in five years."

"Five years?" Reinette asked, eyeing the boy with a frown.

"Sometime after your thirty-seventh birthday," Sam supplied, "I um- I can't give you an exact date. It's a bit random, but they're coming. It's going to happen and in a way, for us, it's already happening." He gave her an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, it's hard to explain. The Doctor does this better."

"Then please be exact Sam, and I will try be attentive," Reinette said patiently.

"I don't think there is enough time."

"There are five years," she pointed out.

"For you. I haven't got five minutes."

"Will you at least try for me?"

He took a deep breath. "There's a ship, somewhere that has this time windows opened in each of its rooms. Different bit of your life in different rooms, might be a bit jumbled up a bit." Sam tried to explain, stumbling along. "I told you it was a bit complicated, and I'm not good at telling things. Sorry."

Reinette pursed her lips in concentration as she tried to make sense of what she told. "There is a vessel in your world where the days of my life are pressed together like the chapters of a book, so that he may step from one to the other without increase of age while I, weary traveller," her face twisted in annoyance, "Must always take the slower path.

Sam blinked a little, taken aback before he smiled a little, "Wow, you are brilliant."

"So, in five years, these creatures will return?" Reinette asked him. She took a steadying breath. "What can be done?"

"The Doctor says to keep them talking," Sam said with a small helpless shrug, wishing that he had something that would assured her more. "He said that they're programmed to respond to you, even thou you might be not able to stop them but you might be able to delay them a bit."

"Until?"

"Until the Doctor can get there."

Reinette took another steadying breath, her hands wanting to tremble a little in the swell of fear that was threatening to consume her, letting it out slowly before speaking, "He is coming, then?"

Sam nodded and smiled for her, trying to reassured her.

"But he cannot, make his promises in person?" Reinette asked, unable to help but hope that it was him, the vanquisher of her nightmares.

Sam pressed his lips together in a hopefully, a reassuring smiled. But he was finding it increasingly difficult to comfort her, he never really good at comforting people and she a grown adult, of course she would doubt her even further.

"The monsters and the Doctor," Reinette softly smiled. "It seems you cannot have on without the other."

"I guess so," Sam told her. "The thing is, you weren't supposed to have either. Those droid are messing with history. None of this was supposed to happen, well at least I don't think it should, don't really remember story about you meeting any clockwork android."

"Supposed to happen?" Reinette repeated angrily, standing. "What does that mean? It happened and I would not have it any other way. One may tolerate a world of demons for the sake of an angel." She turned with a swirl to face the fireplace, staring into it with heated eyes as she sucked a calming breath, reminding herself that his words meant nothing in the scheme of things.

"Are you okay?" Sam asked gently as he approached her.

"No," Reinette admitted. She looked at him with a gleam of sadness. "I'm afraid, very afraid. My journey in life will be shorten and I will be only known as a wicked mistress with a charming face." She took another breath as she slumped down on her chair. "I want to accomplish so much, yet here I am listening how there's a chance my time will cut short."

Sam looked at the woman in front of her, the same woman he learned in history class that mesmerize her teacher and made her gushed in delight; the same woman who was highly influential at the French court with a noble's titles for herself and her family, along with building and supporters to her influence. Was now afraid, and self-doubt on herself.

He sighed.

"I think the Doctor won't like me doing this, but I have another message to Jean Antoinette Poisson, and how great she is," Sam told her. He saw her eyes lit with confusion, and yet he continued on, trying not to spoil anything important. "No, really, she is an absolute genius. She knows a lot more than just art, or gardening, but she knows politic, philosophy and she mastered them all with breeze. Her salon was attended by some of the highest thinking minds, this was achieved even before she met the King, where people would come to her salon and shared mind and knowledge there because people feel welcome and accepted there."

"Do you know what really cool about her?" he continued, his tone was giddy with excitement yet with a genuine awe and sincerity that was rare from the people she met, "How she finds her way to the top like it was the easiest thing in the world, yet she does it with her wit and that makes people trust her, and fell in love with her. Not only because she's beautiful, but because she's so smart and brilliant. She's not just a wicked mistress or someone pretty, but she's so much more fascinating and will accomplish a lot more, which I can't say what because I'm pretty sure I can feel the Doctor glaring through my soul right now."

"My point is," Sam finally claimed. "You're amazing Reinette."

When he finished, Reinette stared at her with a gleam awe and tears of joy in her eyes as she finally giggled at him. She smiled of a new hope in her life, a new determination that she needed to solved and fight for her future as she wiped her tears away, still mesmerize by the simple words that come out from him. Her small angel, no, her friend has helped her giving this new hope for her, and she is utterly grateful at it.

"You are an interesting imaginary friend, Sam."

"I am?"

She walked towards him and hugs him softly as she whispered.

"Thank you."

"Sam?" they heard the Doctor call, "Sam! I found the right window," his voice come again and Sam tore his gaze from her through the tapestry, he looked back at her with a smile.

"I better go," Sam told her. "Just, remember what I say, yeah?"

With a nod of determination, Reinette walked back to her chair to wait for her time. There was no fear nor is she slightly even afraid, she's only has a whole set of new determination to set a new accomplishment in her life. Her time won't be cut short by those creatures. She will do what the Doctor said, and proceed the plan.


	27. The Slow Path of the Lonely Angel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything that related to Doctor Who, except my own original character. Everything else belongs to the BBC. [Bummer, I know]

The screams grew louder and Sam sprinted his way through the ship towards the source, while it mixed with the Doctor calling his name, above the screams. When he found him, the Doctor was frantically running around the room while flicking, working on various controls and switches, trying something to only resulting nothing at all. His eyes looked wild with anger as he wrecked his hair who made her looked like a mad scientist.

"You found it then?" Sam asked as he got to his side, out of breath.

"Where have you been?" the Doctor demanded, he was fuming in anger.

"What?" he asked.

"They knew I was coming," the Doctor replied grimly. He grabbed another control but nothing happens. "They blocked it off."

Sam looked up at the time window. Aristocrats and courtesans were gathered in one large group with androids surrounding them as they were screaming and panicking, clutching each other for support in the mayhem. Many women were screaming, followed with the men yelling at the robots angrily. Sam could see at least one woman on the ground, probably fainted or worse. However, he couldn't see Reinette anywhere.

"I don't get it," Sam finally said. "How come they got in there if they lock the time window?"

"They teleported. You saw them," the Doctor's short reply. "As long as the ship and the ballroom are linked, their short range teleports will do the trick."

"A bit dumb question, but why can't we just go in the TARDIS?" he asked.

The Doctor shook his head. "Can't use the TARDIS. We're part of events now."

"Right, of course it's never that easy," Sam nodded. "Alright then, can't we just smash through?"

"Hyperplex this side, plate glass the other," the Doctor said impatiently. "We need a truck."

"We don't have a truck."

"I know we don't have a truck!"

Sam was taken aback by the Doctor's explosion, then again he wasn't a stranger of it. Fully looking at him, he noticed that he was fuming and vibrating with furry and frustration. People were about to die, and as far as he could see, there was nothing he could do but watch it happen. It was driving him mad, as if he was relieving a memory. A painful memory of his own experience, where there's nothing he can't do to fix or even make it better.

"Okay then," he said gently. "Let's try something else."

"No," the Doctor shook his head, biting his lip. "Smash the glass, smash the time window. There'd be no way back."

He yanked his sonic out of his pocket, and waved it around in a flurry of moment. With another growl of frustration, he pushed back from the monitor and bumped into Sam. He kept going to another monitor and pointed the screwdriver at it. But nothing he did had any effect on the time window.

The voice of Reinette drifted through the mirror, catching their attention, "Could everyone just calm down! Please!"

Arthur suddenly trotted in, followed by a soft whinny and in the next moment, before Sam could turn to look, he was tumbling just a little as the horse nose nudged him, "Arthur," he exclaimed, a hand coming up almost automatically to pat the horse nose, "Where have you been, you silly horse," he murmured as he glanced back at the horse that merely nudged him again.

From over by the console, the Doctor smacked the panel with growing irritation, before his gaze turned to the horse and the window where a third droid had appeared with a small buzz saw held to Reinette's neck. Arthur wasn't a truck, but he had enough power in his muscles to get through glass. There was no more time to think of another option, he sighed and walked towards Arthur.

"We don't have a truck," the Doctor, mounting the horse. "But we do have horsepower!"

He guided the horse into the room and in front of the time window.

In a moment, the Doctor remember a word that made him freeze,  _there'd be no way back._ His body tensed, and his chest froze as he stopped for a moment. His gaze turned firmly at Sam, he'd be leaving him here, alone, with the TARDIS. He'd be three thousand years away, unable to come back, and yet here Sam was, just stood there and not stopping him.

"What are you doing?" Sam asked him. He looked at him confused. "They're about to behead her. You have to go now!"

He swallowed heavily, and met his eyes, his face was empty, completely unanimated. "Go back to the TARDIS, and wait for me there. All the droids are in France right now. You should be safe."

"Good luck!" He backed away from the horse.

The Time Lord tore his gaze away and looked resolutely back at the time window. "Hyah!" he shouted, and galloped the horse forwards, then through the window. It shattered, leaving nothing but the wall on the other side.

0o0

"Such commotion," Reinette called, speaking over the sounds of fright and fear that were prevailing over the ballroom, "Such distressing noise. Kindly remember that this is Versailles. This is the Royal Court, and we are French." She turned to the droids. "I have made my decision, and the decision is no. I shall not be going with you today. I will not set foot on your world, as there are a lot more things I need to accomplish myself."

'We do not require your feet,' the droid replied and the two droids come up on either side of Reinette, and pushed her to her knees, pointing the blades that were protruding from their hands at her throat.

Reinette looked up as the droid that had spoken to her approached, its own blade pointed at her as well. Her eyes hardened with defiance even as her heart hammered in her chest, "You think I fear you. But I do not fear you, even now. You are merely the nightmare of my childhood. The monster from under my bed, and if my nightmare can return to plague me, then rest assured," her voice lowered to a whisper as she stared at them unflinchingly, "So will yours."

In a moment, sound of a horse whining was heard, the sound closely followed by the sound of swiftly galloping hooves. The guest, Reinette, the King, and the Droids all looked about in confusion searching for the source of the noise. A moment later, the mirror over the mantelpiece smashed and the guests shrieked in alarm, while Reinette gasped as a white horse leapt thought it, the Doctor on its back.

"Madame de Pompadour," the Doctor greeted as he dismounted from Arthur, "You look younger every day," he commented lightly and Reinette smiled.

"What the hell is going on?" King Louis demanded.

"Oh, this is my lover, the King of France," Reinette murmured, still smiling rather relieved, she'd almost begun to fear that he wouldn't make it in time.

"Hello, Your Majesty," the Doctor greeted him, then stared at the droids. "I'm the Doctor, and I'm here to fix the clock." He marched over to one of the three robots surrounding Reinette and ripped it's wig off. The crowd gasped as they got a look at the strange, clockwork android. With an angry creak, the droid lifted its blade away from Reinette's throat into the Doctor's face.

"Forget it, it's over," the Doctor told it. He easily moved the blade away. "For you and for me," He almost bit out, glancing over at the mirror he'd come through, a sold brick walls in its place. "Talk about seven years' bad luck. Try three thousand." He muttered as the droid cocked its head towards the broken window.

The clockwork droid, repeatedly attempted to activate its short-range teleport. It turned to eh Doctor, joints clicking.

He smirked.

"The link with the ship is broken. No way back." the Doctor ignored the stab to his chest and focused on shutting down the droids. "You don't have the parts. How many ticks left in that clockwork heart's? A day? An hour? It's over. Accept that. I'm not winding you up."

He watched with an impassive looked as the clockwork in the de-masked droid slowly wound down, before it slumped over, the other droids following suit, one falling backwards as it did so, it's intricate clockwork full of cogs and gears breaking apart upon the impact. The small pieces scattering across the floor.

As the guest whispered amongst themselves, the Doctor turned to Reinette, holding a hand to help her on her feet, "You alright?"

She nodded and stood, gather her skirts and surveying the damage. "What's happened to them?"

"They've stopped. They have no purpose now." the Doctor told her. He ignored the shattered glass around his feet as he had acted impulsively, but there had been no other option.

One crisis solved had only led to a massive dilemma; with no TARDIS, there was no going back. He could wait for his incarnation that has little adventure in this century but it could take a while; of course he could contact them but after the time war, his telepathic sense and time sense a bit wonky. There was no other way, then to wait for a miracle. He was stuck here, just as he suspected.


	28. The End Story of Madame de Pompadour

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything except my original character, the purpose of this writing to have fun and everything else own by the BBC.

The King and Madame de Pompadour too charge as the Doctor straightened his shoulders and marched out of the ballroom. He needed a peace and quiet to think about what to do next, he tried thinking about other reincarnation that would be around here sometimes but it would take a lot of times and he doubt it would be soon enough.

The Time Lord sighed, and stared out the window at the stars, a wine glass forgotten in his hand. Somewhere out there, three thousand years from now, Sam was on the other side with the TARDIS; there's a possibility that he is now home. Yet here he was, stranded alone here, without a way out. He'd had to leave. History would have started to unravel around this night if Reinette had been taken. Once again, the whole universe was in peril, and it came down to him saving everything, and he got nothing.

At least Sam was safe. He would have tried to get back to him, but there was no other way. Considering if he was gone long enough, Emergency Program One would restart and take him home. He'd modified the program from his last incarnation and probably forgot to change it or edit it out, so Sam might get a bit surprised, although it was still working and in case he was too far away to take care of his companion. He would be fine, might be surprised and confused, but fine.

"You know all their names, don't you?" Reinette asked quietly, approaching him. She saw the Doctor alone, gazing outside the window with a goblet in his hand. "I saw that in your mind. The name of every star."

The Doctor shrugged pulling his gaze from the stars to look at her, a small smile curving his lips, "What's in a name? Names are just titles. Titles don't tell you anything."

"Like, 'The Doctor,'" Reinette asked, with a small smile of her own.

"Like, 'Madame de Pompadour'," the Doctor quipped and Reinette laughed lightly. He returned his gaze to the stars, his smile slowly fading.

"I have often wished to see those stars a little closer," Reinette admitted, drawing his gaze back to her. She turned her gaze back to him, "Just as you have I think."

"From time to time."

"In saving me, you trapped yourself. Did you know that would happen?"

"Pretty much," he said, trying to sound casual but not pulling it off well.

"Yet still you came," she observed.

"Yeah I did, didn't I?" the Doctor said, forcing another small smile. "Catch me doing that again."

Reinette stared at him a moment longer, before she spoke again, "There were many doors between my world and yours. Can you not use one of the others?"

"When the mirror broke, the shock would have severed all the links with the ship," the Doctor explained, tearing his gaze from the stars to regard her once again, "There'll be a few more broken mirrors and torn tapestries around here, I'm afraid. Wherever there was a time window. I'll pay for any damage." He trailed as Reinette laughed, as an unsettling realization dawned on him, "Um… Oh, that's a thought," he muttered with a frown, "I'm going to need money. I was always a bit vague about money. A bit cheap date, me. Where do you get money?"

"So, here you are. My lonely angel, stuck on the slow path with me."

"Yep," the Doctor agreed, "The slow path," he grinned at her, though the action didn't quite manage to disperse the sadness in his brown eyes as he raised his goblet, "Here's to the slow path."

Reinette laughed lightly again as she chinked her goblet against his and took a sip of her wine, eyeing him as his gaze returned to the stars, "A little friend told me, a slow path is worth to be enjoyed, Doctor." she mused. "I think you would enjoy it."

"Well, I'm not going anywhere."

"Oh, aren't you?" Reinette questioned with a smile as she set down her goblet, drawing the Doctor's to her gaze again.

"Aren't I what?" he asked, confused.

"Take my hand," She laughed at his quizzical expression. "I promise you, I will not bite. Besides, we all know there's only one blonde woman you loved. I need to show you something."

With a soft smile, he tentatively took her fingers as she leads him to whatever it was she wanted to see. She took his hand and led him out of the room and down the corridor of her own rooms. There, in all its glory, was the fireplace from her childhood. The Doctor gaped at it, hardly daring to breathe in fear it would disappear.

"It's not a copy, it's the original." Reinette informed him. "I had it moved here and was exact in every detail."

"The fireplace," the Doctor breathed in relieved. He walked slowly toward it. "The fireplace from your bedroom. When did you do this?"

"Many years ago," Reinette responded. "In the hope that a door once opened, may someday be opened again. One never quite knows when one needs one's Doctor." Her focused gaze back on the fireplace, "It appears undamaged, do you think it will still work?"

"You broke the bond with the ship when you moved, which means it was offline when the mirror broke," the Doctor mused, thinking quickly. "Which means it was off line when the mirror broke. That's what saved it. But-" He trailed off, moving closer. If this worked, he could get back. "The link was basically physical, and it's still physically here. Which might just mean, if I'm lucky," he said, tapping the wood around the mantel. "If I'm very, very, very, very, very, very lucky… Aha!" He cried suddenly, beaming when he heard the tell-tale pop.

"What?" she asked.

"Loose connection!" the Doctor cried happily, whipping out his sonic screwdriver and pointing it at the spot. He banged on it, and heard the slight electronic hum as the connection was made. "Need to get a man in! Wish me luck!"

Reinette smiled softly. "Good luck."

The Doctor looked back at her, his expression falling slightly as the fireplace started to turned already, and Reinette lowered her head, she had so hoped to at least have a final moment, a goodbye to her lonely angel. She had wanted a goodbye this time, for surely this would be the last time she'd see him. Besides, she has so much to do, so much she needs to reach and done as her little friend told her. Her head shot up again however, as hi voice called back to her through the fireplace.

"Madame de Pompadour!"

Reinette, quickly lowered herself unable to stop the smile as she crouched in front of the fireplace peering back at him.

"Still want to see those stars?"

"No, you and I know, we both have more important things to do," Reinette shook her head. "Do not waste it on me."

The Doctor smiled. "Sam told you a lot of things, did he?"

Reinette smiled back and nodded. "Yes he did, a lot of it's, he's very kind Doctor. She knows it too, good luck."

"Thank you," the Doctor said sincerely, running off.

0o0

As soon as he was back in the bulk head, he saw Sam raised his head slightly, his eyes widening at the sight of him. He was grinning wider as his gaze landed on him, eyes meeting. He didn't even pause before racing across the room and lifted the boy into the air in a bone-crushing hug that was a big surprise even for Sam.

"Sam! I'm so glad to see you." the Doctor exclaimed giddily, still lifting him off the ground and now spun him about.

He'd set his feet back on the ground, relief written all over his face as he moved closer and stroke the TARDIS. In a second, his ship bombarded him with a full mental Howler that was a big surprised to him, accusing him being reckless and abandoning the small human.  _'Whoa! I always planned to come back'_ was his only replied. His ship however was not even amused for one bit, as she gave him the silent treatment.

The Doctor looked down at the boy. "How long did you wait?"

"I don't know, but it's not longer than five minutes or a half." Sam replied.

"Right, always wait five and a half minutes," the Doctor told him as he gave him a manic grin.

"How did you get back?" Sam asked him.

"Explain later," the Doctor told him. He turned to the ship and opened the door as he addresses the boy. "Into the TARDIS. Be with you in a sec. Need to go and thank someone."

Sam's eyes lit up in understanding, and he nodded. "Tell her, goodbye from me, yeah?"

He smiled and nodded, turning the fireplace again.

0o0

The Doctor bounced off the fireplace with a flourish, giddy to have found a way back to Sam and his ship, not trapped in France. He turned from it to the room, and paused as the fireplace clicked into place. He took in the now dark room and wondered from room and out into the corridors, searching for her. Frowning a bit, as it was previously bright and cheery and she had been standing a few feet from the fireplace.

"Reinette?" the Doctor called out. He stepped out into the hall, his gaze landing on the King as he stood alone staring out a window. "Oh. Hello."

"You just missed her," the King replied. He turned to acknowledge his presence. "She'll be in Paris by six."

"Ah," the Doctor nodded slowly.

The King finally peeled his eyes away from the window and go a look at the strange man Reinette had loved to talk about. "Good Lord. She was right. She said you never looked a day older. So many years since I saw you last, but not a day of it on your face."

As the Doctor examined the King, he noticed the wrinkles and sagging skin of old age. By the looks of it, he had gone for a long time. With a weary sigh, the Doctor crossed the short expanse of the room and opened the drawer of a bureau. Inside was a sealed letter, presumably from Reinette herself.

"She spoke of her fireplace man and little friend many times" the King told him, lightly stroking the seam of the letter. "Often wished how you two would visit again, even only for a moment."

It didn't bode well that the King kept referring to his beloved mistress in the past tense. He crossed the room and placed the letter in the Doctor's hand. The sounds of horse whinnies and carriage wheels floated into the air from the nearby window, and the King resumed his station in front of the glass.

"There she goes," he whispered softly. "Leaving Versailles for the last time. Only forty-three when she died. Too young, too young. Illness took her in the end. She always did work too hard. Yet she changes everything, the people lover her. The Queen loves her. I love her."

He tore his gaze from the window again to look at the Doctor, eyes on the verged of tears, as he tried to hold it off trying to drown himself in grieves with the sweet escape of wine in his hand. The Doctor watched the solemn scene, feeling sorry to see one of history's great woman depart from the Earth. He should've known, of course he should. Yet it still hurts.

"What does she say?" the King asked.

The question forced the Doctor's tore his gaze from the carriage. Without a word, he tucked the letter away safely inside his jacket. "All good things, I hope."

A small smile formed on the King's lips. "Of course. Quite right."

0o0

Sam quietly closed the TARDIS door, going back to the console in a numb state. He stood there, staring blankly as what had just happened, he should've been angry and probably told him that he didn't want to be left alone in the cold spaceship; he did try to get inside the ship but it was locked and he didn't have a key, he never gave him a key and he should probably get angry at him. But he couldn't get angry at him, because he was saving history as it was his job, probably. His species are called Time Lord for those purpose, keeping time save and all.

That's why he can't be angry. The Doctor was saving the world and he did tell him about what would happened if he crashes through the mirror with Arthur. He jumped when the door opened, and quickly looked up with a smile as the Doctor entered the room. Sam's brow furrowed when he saw his dejected posture as he appeared alone, a looked he was too familiar with. Slamming the door shut, he walked slowly towards the console. Sam noticed, the looked of losing someone and there's only meant one thing, she was gone.

"Why her?" Sam asked. He tried to distract him with questions. "Why did they think they could repair the ship with the head of Madame de Pompadour?"

"We'll probably never know." the Doctor took a deep breath before continuing, trying to sound normal. "There was a massive damage in the computer memory banks. It probably got confused." He murmured before strolling to the console saying loudly, "The TARDIS can close down the time windows now the droids gone. Should stop it causing any more trouble."

"Are-are you alright?" Sam asked. He glanced at him, it wasn't like him to not babble away.

He looked up, his face set in an emotionless mask. "I'm always alright," he said flatly, trying for a small grin before glancing back down at the TARDIS, not making eye contact and never so much as glancing to Sam while he fiddled with different things on it.

Sam hesitated a moment longer, reluctant to leave him alone with the pain he'd seen in his eyes, but even he could tell that he wished to be alone as he fiddles with the buttons. He quickly turned and as quietly as he could be getting back to his room, shooting a last concerned look at the Doctor and kept moving through inside of the ship.

He almost called him back, trying to remind him to prepared to change his clothes as he was going to get him back home, but instead he merely watched with solemn eyes as the back of the boy disappeared from the view. The Doctor sighed out a breath, before slowly reaching into his pocket to pull out the letter Reinette had written to him. Hesitating to break the seal for a moment, before he steeled his nerves and broke the seal to read her final words to him, his eyes focusing on the words scrawled onto the parchment.

_My dear Doctor,_

_The path has never seemed more slow, and yet I am enjoying every single moment of it. I fear perhaps I am nearing its ends, yet I have had no regrets to meet both of my fireplace friends as I feel blessed by your presence for a few short days of my life. A little friend reminds me to live, and it was exactly what I did and a guardian lonely angel who kept my safe._

_I have seen the world inside your head and know that you should not travel alone, and I believe, she does too believe the same thing. I am worried after this; your mind would not change to travel alone which you should never be. Don't be alone, Doctor._

_And please remember one more thing. I do not have regrets, even if I were to die tonight, I hope you also do not regret. For everything._

_Godspeed_

_My fireplace man_

Madame de Pompadour-gone in the blink of an eye.


	29. Consequences

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything except my original character, which was a bit shame. Wish I could write Doctor Who, maybe become a show runner. But then again, it would be cancel because of me. So nope.
> 
> A/N: I would like to thanks all of the angst Girl in the Fireplace after adventure fan-fiction that give me the spur of the idea. Blimey you lot really loves to take this fic into an angsty/ hurt and comfort type; then again this episode will have a consequences the Doctor created of being all God-Complex, with the spur of saving damsell in distress in return neglecting his own companion. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope this make sense.
> 
> Enjoy!

Irritated. The Doctor was irritated, more than irritated. He was starting to get a bit annoyed, even more so because he felt completely powerless, which was not a position he liked to be in. Mind as big as his, he could always think of a plan but the one thing he couldn't think of was why his ship behaved badly at him. The old girl has been bothering him for a while, and when he wanted a reason why, she didn't even respond to him.

It started with the last adventure they had when the Doctor was going to the library for trying to ease his mind about what happened, but in a magical moment, the door disappeared and he had no choice to take another way going inside the kitchen, thinking maybe a light snack. But of course, the banana snack he has in his kitchen was change into pears. So he forgot about the snacks, and turned to tinkering his ship, thinking probably his ship wanted some attention after how he abandoned her, yet it only resulting him got electrocuted every time he wanted to tinker her.

"What is wrong with you, old girl?" the Doctor asked, he rubbed the console with affection but only get electrocuted again. He glared towards the console.

He sighed, and decided he need some cups of tea and walked into the kitchen. His gait slow, and deliberate, as his mind a million galaxies away lost in some dimension where all things are possible. At first, he didn't see Rose was sitting there nursing a cup of tea. It wasn't until she moved that he almost jumped surprised.

"Blimey Rose," the Doctor told her.

Rose said nothing, and didn't even seem only looked at him dead in the eye.

The Doctor frowned. "Something wrong?"

"I'm just wonderin'" Rose said, as she got back to her tea. "Do you remember how you get me home?"

The Doctor held back a wince. "The TARDIS is programmed to respond on an emergency situation, the rest would be getting you home to earth safely."

"Yeah, thought it'd be something like that," Rose said with a small smile that lacked any sort of happiness or amusement whatsoever.

There was silence for a long moment and then the Doctor said, "Is something wrong?"

"Five and a half hours."

"I'm sorry?"

"It's five and half hours, not five in a half minutes," Rose told him with a straight face. "It didn't occur to you that probably time also moves differently on the other side of the time window."

"But Sam told me-"

"He lied Doctor, I don't know why either, but that's where I realized about your decision getting Sam back home is right, not because he lied to you but because I beginning to wonder if Sam is safe with you. I beginning to wonder about those promise you made to yourself," Rose looked up at him, there was something in his expression that made the Doctor uneasy. "I beginning to wonder that maybe, his safety was questioned because he was traveling with the wrong Doctor."

"What?" the Doctor asked, half-incredulous, half angry and all insulted. He felt the comment was like a slap in the face, and from all people, it came from her. "We're the same man."

"Are you?" Rose retorted. She only gave him a hollow looked.

"My life isn't safe," the Doctor argued. "You know that, he knows that."

Rose gave him a cold laughed. "Oh, we all know about that, but that doesn't mean you left him for dead, Doctor."

"I didn't leave him for dead," he said, his voice quivered in anger and he spoke through gritted teeth.

"Didn't you?"

"No!"

"And what about the clock-men, Doctor? If you hadn't come back from your little party, what would have become of Sam? They were going to use his bodies for spare parts, or maybe it escaped the fact that they had strapped him down and were about to saw him in half." She threw her hands up in the air. "Nah, don't worry. You didn't leave him for dead, not at all."

"There was no other way," He stepped in front of her, his hands coming on her shoulders, forcing her to meet his gaze, "Why can't you understand that?"

"Oh was it? You're so sure there was no other way? With those big Time Lord brain of yours, you are so sure there was no other way." Rose asked him. She gave him a disbelieving laugh. "At least there must be another way that doesn't involve leaving him alone, almost got mutilated or being abandoned without a way to get home."

"The TARDIS was right here! He could have gotten home anytime, I even told him to go inside the TARDIS." the Doctor felt it was time to point that out.

"I know," Rose said calmly, standing up. "The TARDIS was right there." She reached into her pocket and placed a familiar silver key on the table in front of the Doctor. "But he doesn't have this, you never give it to him."

The Doctor stared down at the TARDIS key, his hearts still and stomach around floor level. He never gave Sam the key, he couldn't get inside the time machine as he locks the door. A standard protection protocol for the ship to turned all defence from the outside world, that also means, it can't be override from anything except if anyone could have opened it with a key. That's why he doesn't trust anyone with a key, except for his companion.

There was no other way to get inside the ship, without a key, he'll be lock outside. Trapped alone, in a massive death trap.

"My Doctor, he was gonna destroy the entire world, but he made sure I would get home safe first," Rose told him. Her smile was bittersweet as she continued while the Doctor only stood there stunned. "He kisses my head, take me into the TARDIS and shuts the door to make sure I stay there. Even leaves a message to let me know it's gonna be okay, that I'm safe."

Rose walked to the door before turning around. "You go to a fancy party, get on a horse, smash through a mirror which closes behind you, saying there was no other way inside those big fancy Time Lord brain of yours. You never even bother to check and make sure he can get back into the TARDIS. So we wait, Sam waits. Five and a half hours," She shoved her hands into her pockets, ignoring the silence behind her. "Not because he trusts you, not because he doesn't want to leave, but because he can't. An' I think; I'd like him to go home while he still can."

When Rose walked away from the Doctor, he just sat there, stunned. She was right, even without her being here, she was right. In a moment, thoughts of idea ran through his head, finally he realized that there were things he could have done. Of course there were. He could have programmed the TARDIS to meet him at a certain time not long from now, after these events and those wouldn't take even a minute for him to do. He could use the TARDIS energy to re-opened all the time window without him galloping with a horse and smash it, destroying it completely. He could have used a self-destruct button that have to be inside the ship, to destroyed the clockwork droids, or he could simply just have destroyed the ship, and that way it would cut the whole connection quickly before they could even find the right time window. He could even have risked taking the TARDIS with him, finding the right timeline as a last ditch of effort. But none of that entered his mind when he dove head first into a dead end. Some part of him realized that this had at least subconsciously, been completely on purpose. Other part, of him realized that he had done this because he was an idiot.

For the first time in his life, the enormity of consequences for his actions occurred to him.

0o0

The first thing he saw when Sam walked through the ship kitchen was the Doctor standing there looking stunned with a stormy rage expression and a glass of tea in his hand. He hesitated for a moment, but he was really hungry and thirsty so he walked inside and try not to startled the Doctor, trying to be stealthy. Of course it didn't work, as he stepped inside the kitchen, the Doctor turned his head around and startled him a bit.

"Uh, hi." Sam greeted awkwardly. "I'm sorry, I just, eh…"

The Doctor smiled. "It's alright Sam, you're probably hungry right?"

"And a bit thirsty," Sam added as he walked towards the cupboards, grabbing a glass and fill it with water.

"Thought you would have gone with the tea," the Doctor said. He frowned as he grabbed some banana cake from the fridge and place it on the table.

"Right, I don't like tea," he stated, taking a gulp of water. "It taste weird, and sometimes my tongue felt weird after drinking it. But it's taste nice when you're sick."

"Well," the Doctor said. He tugged his ear. "That's new, you surprise me every day, Mr. Sam Piper. First you told me that you don't like reading book and now you're telling you don't like tea. Are you sure you're British?" He raised an eyebrow at him that made him giggled.

After a while, the Doctor gone quite for a long moment which is unusual for him. Usually, he'll made idle small talk, or jokes around gone all silly, but he was just gone totally silent and that made him uneasy a bit. Then again, he did find the Time Lord standing still in the kitchen, as if something has been mulling over his head, something that either important, or horrible, that would also add to his sombre expression is anything to go on.

"Sam," the Doctor said. He's using the same tone every grown-up he met, when it was really serious. Like when he failed an exam in school, or when he was late for another class, or when some of them would ask about what happen with his hand.

The boy quickly set down his glass on the table, and will himself to look straight into his eyes, feeling a bit scared on what he's going to say next.

"I know you didn't wait five in a half minutes for me, it was five in a half hour," the Doctor told him. He looked the boy in the eye. "Why did you lie to me?"

"How did you know that I lied to you?" Sam asked him back.

"I ask the question first," he told him, his tone grew stern. "Why did you lie to me?"

"I don't want to make you worried," Sam whispered, breaking the eye contact and examining his hands.

The Doctor sighed, "Sam, it's my job to be worried about you."

"Why?"

"Because you're a ten-year-old boy who for some reason attract trouble so easily, and I'm an overly old nine hundred years old alien, whose job is looking for trouble, of course I should be worried."

"Well I guess you don't have to worried about that anymore," Sam told him. He looked at the confused alien. "I'm going home soon, after all. So it didn't matter if I lie to you anyway."

"Sam-"

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to say that." Sam said in panic. He hurriedly got up. "It's just, I'm so tired and I just need some nap, you know?"

"Right, of course you can," the Doctor said. He stood up and grabbed the mug and placed it on the sink. "I'll wake you up later, when we arrived."

He nodded and walked quickly inside his room. Afraid of uttering any other words or saying anything that would make everything worse.


	30. A Message from Her

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Doctor Who, everything owns by the BBC; well except my original character!
> 
> A/N: Hello! This part will go straight to angst tears train. This hurt to write, really hurt; I have no idea why do I write this. Also! If you are not a Tenth/Rose shipper, you might not like this and if you are a Tenth/Rose shipper or even the Doctor/ Rose shipper in general, you'll hate me even more, possibly trying to murder me right now.
> 
> But hey, what's the point without a little angst in our life. I take it back, SO MUCH ANGST.  
> Also! If you are not the Doctor/Rose shipper; I don't know what to say to you... 
> 
> ONTO THE STORY!

Sam Piper was taking a quick kip as he said when he woke from the hum of the ship. He sat up from his bed and looked around the room, it wasn't anything special, the room doesn't have their own Jacuzzi or huge television, or a huge comfy bed but one thing for sure, he'll miss this room. For the first time in his life, he felt nice and happy, really happy. But of course it would end and it's alright, he should've known there would be a point in time where the Doctor's going to think it was a mistake bringing him here.

Another hum bothered his train of thought as the door of his room opened by its own, and he stared at it confused. He looked up at the ceiling and the door, until a straight line of yellow pointing at the door as if trying to tell him urgently to get out of his room and followed the straight yellow line in the ceiling. He got up, it's probably a signal that they've arrived home and the Doctor was waiting for him in the console room.

He walked outside the empty hallway that was light up with yellow line to direct him towards the console, and he smiled softly at the ceiling. The ship was helping him to find his way, which was nice because he would always get lost often and that's also why he would always be late for his class; the problem is, he doesn't have a great sense of direction and he would sometimes mix the left or right direction which would sometimes resulted him on getting terribly lost and made his teacher angry.

As he arrived inside the console, he found that it was empty and no one was there but the glowing green from the time rotor and the sound of a familiar breathing hum that always emitted from the ship. Confused, he looked up at the ceiling confused.

"Uh, where's the Doctor?" Sam asked. He felt a bit silly about this sometimes.

He only received a hum for a reply, that followed by a slight beeped and showed a flickering blue light as it finally showed a figure of a woman wearing a long sleeved jacket as the edges of her shape were looking a little fuzzy.

"Hello Doctor."

A smile tugged at her lips,

"I, um… I'm not really sure what kind of protocol you were deleting, but I saw you one day deleting a few protocols and started doing a new one, and I thought that, well, I wanted to make one for you, so your ship is so clever that she let me records this message for you, in a sort of Princess Leia style. I do hope hologram me looked good." She grinned at him, as she swallowed on the obvious sign trying to keep her composure, her breath shuddering and she looked so self-conscious.

"If you're watching this, then I'm gone and if I'm gone, then I'm either dead or lost, and I want to tell you it wasn't your fault, I'm the one who probably wonderin' off again, I don't care what you say but don't you dare go taking all the blame. It's not your fault, it's never your fault. I came of my own accord. Besides, traveling with you, I love it." she spoke, as tears were forming in her eyes as she spoke.

"Don't miss me too much, yeah?" She smiled. The tears began to overflow and she wiped her cheeks. "I promised myself, I wouldn't cry." She blinked a few times in an attempt to stop herself crying. "Now look at me." She laughed a little. "This also reminds me, just in case something goes wrong and this is playing before then, please stop it now. This isn't exactly something you wanna think about when we're still here, alive and well. Jack would never live it down if he also hears some of the stuff I know I'm going to spout out, and we all know I would never live it down. So go on. Turn it off," she stared at him expectantly for a moment, "Right. Hopefully, if I really can trust you, then this will only be playing if I really am gone. If not, you boys better start runnin'. You have been warned."

"Right, first off, I wanna tell you that I'm sorry. I'm sorry that you have to go through this again. It's hard enough to cope with your guilt about your own planet, and now I have to gives you another burden of losing a friend, I know it must be hard to get over this feeling and I'm sorry that you're being forced to do this again." She looked the other way. "I guess I don't know even half the pain you've felt in your life, and I'm sorry to be the one who add to it."

"Secondly," she started, taking a deep breath. "I know you won't want to face the wrath of my mother, but if I died on some planet without saying goodbye to mum, please tell her what happened, and bring me back home, yeah. That is, if I still have a body left. Please tell her what happened, and tell her I love her, and that I never stopped thinking about her, even when I was whooshing around in here with you."

"Four, hang on-" the woman counted on her gingers, "Three!" She said brightly, making him smile a bit, "See, I bet that cheered you up, me making a fool of myself. Anyway, I wanted to tell you not be stupid. Oh don't give me that look," She folded her arms, giving him a mock offence as her face finally soften. "You know what I mean. I know that I'm not the first person that you've pulled into your amazing world, and I know for certain that I'm not going to be the last one, nor even Jack. SO I want you to go out there, do what you do best and go throw yourself into danger, and find someone. Find someone brilliant, who does the right things in the worst situations. Someone who makes you smile. A hand to hold. You might think that I won't want you to have someone after me, but the idea of you travelling' alone, that would destroy me. Travel with Mickey or mum if you have to," She joked.

Sam laughed a little.

Her voice wavered a bit. "Just please, promise me don't be alone. That's one thing will rip me apart, the thought of you, alone in the whole of time and space. It'd kill me. Because let's face it, you're rubbish being alone, we all know that, so find someone to travel with, and don't treat them bad. I did that with Mickey, when we were in Cardiff with the Slitheen. I made him jealous. I hurt him. Don't make my mistakes."

"Right," she sniffed, "Definitely numbed four this time. I know me well enough to know, no matter how long I stay with you, I'll never have the guts to tell you that I-I," She looked down, fiddling with the control panel, but her fingers passing through them, until finally she took a deep breath and smiled warmly holding her gaze. "I love you."

She went silent for a moment, before she began to smile. "It's funny, isn't it? Three little words, and I know neither of us will ever say them. I'd like to think that you felt the same for me, but I know that love probably means something different to you than it does to me. Yet, silly as it is, I always loved you, one way or another, and I will always will."

"And finally, don't ever change," the woman told him. She holds her gaze. "Don't ever stop being you. Because you'll always be the one who polishes of the last banana bread without telling me. You'll always be the one to leave wires and bits of stuff all over the place that sometimes made me trip. Go on being the fantastic, beautiful man that I know you are. Go on getting yourself into impossible situations, and go on being rude to royalty and end up being jail, like we always do."

"Shut up." Rose hastily added. "And wipe that goofy grin off your face, it's always your fault we end up in jail. Although we still have no idea why Jack always end up being naked on every adventure."

"Go on being the man that I love, and I'll always be there, right beside you. Have a good life, just being you. Do that for me. Promise me that, and I'll always be there with you."

There was the sound of footsteps, and she whirled around to look at the inner door, leading to the inside of the ship.

"I've got to go," a little laugh and a roll of her eyes, "You're coming. But please, just carry on, even now when I'm gone. Just promise me you'll go on and live the amazing life I know you will."

"I love you."

A quick flash of her smile, and the image failed, gently fading into nothing.

Sam blinked, trying to get his eyes to refocus. He stared at the spot where she'd been for a moment, who was she, was she her wife. Was she Rose, the woman name who he told when he got into that regeneration coma. Whoever she was, she wasn't here, and all the Doctor character of being to protective started to make sense, because whatever happened to her, it created a big scar to the Time Lord. She loves him, and the Doctor loves her, he maybe hasn't moved on from her or whatever happened to her, makes the Doctor scared of having a friend with him.

He quickly wipes the tears that he didn't realized had made a way down on his cheeks at the sound of the Doctor chucks entering the room, bouncing with his usual excitement.

"So! Ready to go home, Sam?"

He looked up at him, trying to hide the fact he just saw a message from her; probably it was forbidden to see it. Sam smiled, trying to get excited.

"Of course," Sam told him. He quickly goes to his side as the Doctor fiddled with the controls in the console, ready to get him home.

"You alright?"

He looked up and merely nodded.

A slight jolt felt around the shipped, signalling their arrival, they stood there in silence; don't know how to react or even say something. It doesn't make sense for the Doctor, he has had a lot of companion saying goodbye to him, and it always hard to see them leave him after their travel but he was used to this; companions come and go breaking his hearts, yet this one, this ordinary little human, makes it harder for him to even say goodbye.

"Doctor?"

The Doctor looked up from the console, his voice startled his train of thoughts. "Yeah?"

"I'm just saying goodbye," Sam told him. He pointed at the door as he walked towards it then stopped. "You're not going to travel alone, right? Because someone told your rubbish if you're alone."

"What do you mean?"

"Just, find a friend I guess."

"Right," the Doctor said. He gave him his best smiled. "Of course. Thank you Sam."

Sam smiled and wave at him as he walked outside. "Well, see ya."

The Time Lord can now only stand there and stared blankly at the empty console, that filled with the TARDIS hummed. He should've said something at least, said sorry to him, or even check if they in the right destination, that's the least he can do for him the last time; he had been awful at him this day and still he didn't say anything, always the coward him. So here he was, standing there solemnly, on the empty ship, the same dreadful lonely feeling creeping up to him; the same feeling he felt after he end it all, the same feeling when he lost her, when he lost everyone.

A rang of a phone distract him from his thought, he looked around the console and found her super phone ringing. The Doctor grabbed the phone and checked the caller ID, he looked hesitant when he saw who it was. In a last minute decision, he pressed the green button and placed the phone on his ear.

' _It's me. I need your help.'_


	31. Mr. Smith Physic Class

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam Piper has an ordinary life at school, until he entered physic class and met with a particular familiar face. It didn't help anything that one of his friend suddenly become a great prodigy in this class. Can this day get any weird?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own any property of Doctor Who, everything else belongs to the BBC. Everything with the exception of my OC.
> 
> A/N: Enough with the angst, let us all continue through the timeline, yeah. But before that; did you watch the new episode of Doctor Who? I did and it's not that bad for a premiere episode. Although, I fell in love with Jodie's portrayal of the Doctor already; and of course I can't wait for the rest of the episodes. Why can't I have a vortex manipulator or a TARDIS so I can skip through. Anyway, about this story; it's school reunion with a bit of a twist.
> 
> A lot of twist. Anyway, onto the story!

Torture. One and only word to describe today is torture. School day hasn't had been fun for little Sam Piper since the day he started. It's been five months since his adventure with the Doctor, and many things hasn't changed much in his life; his aunt still hated him, his uncle still ignored him, and his cousins still loves torturing him and it got a bit worse since then. The only time they didn't bother him much was when he's in school, acting as they are perfect angel, but of course they won't be his cousin if their goal wasn't to make his life miserable, because they bother him with a whole gang who loves chases him.

In a minute, he arrived just in time with his cousins outside the old brown building. He wobbled slightly when one of his cousins pushed him back inside the car, he sighed and straighten his uniform then walked inside the building and straight to his locker, taking some books for his morning class.

Walking towards his locker, he spotted a group of the Beagle's boys, a triplet's that was feared by the whole school, cornering Lex Grace a blond small boy, threatening him about some homework right beside his locker, as if this is one point for him being trouble magnet. He muttered lowly, on how this was not his business and just walk away, and started to walked towards them, trying his best not to looked at them. Not to intervene with any of them, just trying to get his book.

"Come on, Lexi! You know how hungry I am, your mum should give some lunch money," Max Beagle, the oldest triplets said. He smiled wickedly at the small boy as he whispered to him. "You know what will happen."

"B-But, I-I don't have it, I swear!" Lex stuttered. He looked like in the verge of crying.

"Don't lie to us," Mag seethed. He slammed his hand, scaring the boy in the process.

Lex trembled in fear as he put his hand up. A soft sob come out from him, making the boys more amused.

Grabbing the locker door, he took a deep breath and going to regret what he was going to do next; it'll probably cost him a detention, a black eye, or, a whole month of working on their homework for some sick payment. He rattled the door slightly, taking their attention to him as he finally pulled the locker door roughly and accidently slammed the locker door to Mag who was standing beside his locker with a hard force that knocked the boy backwards, holding his face.

"What the bloody hell!" Mag barked at him. He quickly grabbed the boy and slammed him to his locker roughly.

"Sorry," Sam said, holding his hands up. His eyes wondered to Lex that only stood there looking at him. "I'm sorry, really am. I don't mean to hit you."

He saw Lex stared at him, nodded mildly then run away from them as fast as his legs can. The Beagle's boy ignored him as they were now focused on Sam, evidently his distraction is working, but probably not to his side. He can only keep a neutral fear face, and trying his best not to look as if he was planning to hit him.

"You bloody did that on purpose, didn't you?" Max told him. He looked at him, threatening. "You'll pay for that."

He frowned. "For accidently opened my locker door, but it was an accident. You lot should've know how hard our locker door sometimes."

Mag pushed him hard on the locker. "Do you think we're bunch of idiots? We know you did that on bloody purpose." He retorted, clenching his fist. "You wanna play an everyday hero? You got your price to be an everyday hero!"

In instinct, he held his hand up trying to at least shield his face from getting hit. He can felt his heart pumping harder to his chest, for a moment he can felt his chest tightened and it hurts as the pressure from fear was tightening in. Closing his eyes, the dreadful feeling of regret started to creeping in, a price for him to play an everyday hero.

"Mr. Beagles! Mr. Piper!" Mr. Smith, the new P.E teacher called them. He was standing folding his hands and glared at them. "Don't you lot heard the bell, get inside the class or I'll have you lot runnin' in the field today."

"This isn't over," Mag growled in his ear, before reluctantly releasing him and walked down the hall with the rest of his brothers.

"You alright?"

Sam looked up at Mr. Smith, as he regaining his balanced at the rest of his limbs, while retrieving his fallen notebook as well. He nodded and hurriedly grabbed his bag and put the books and his notebooks.

"That's very brave what you did," Mr. Smith told him. He gives his pencil case to him. "Not everyone would help him."

"Brave or stupid," Sam mumbled under his breath.

"Probably a bit," Mr. Smith told him as he shrugged. "How about this, I can help you give a bit revenge, think those boys would love to run a few laps in class later?"

Sam shook his head. "No, it's alright, besides they'll do worse thing if they know it's because of me."

"Yeah, probably a good idea," Mr. Smith told him. He sighed and ruffled his hair softly. "Better go to class, yeah? No excuses being late and all. Go on!" He urged him.

Sam nodded and hurriedly going to his first class.

0o0

The ball rang, signalling the end of the morning horrendous English class. Sam was the first one out, wanting to get to his next class without meeting the Beagle's boys as he is literally in them in range of their target. He quickly sends a silent prayer to the universe and would really appreciate that he could be home in one piece, without a black eye or probably a ruin uniform. Well, a black eye would be a bit more sufficient rather than a ruin uniform, or worse, working their homework for months or years.

Physics was his next class and he was excited and feel a bit better about school, he loved physics, more accurately, he loves science. It was interesting, complicated, and a bit weird, yet also brilliant. For him, it was much better than English class, because he understands science easily rather the language of immortal bard Shakespeare. That's probably why a lot of teacher still tolerate him but it also irks a lot of teacher because how slow he is in reading.

Walked into the classroom, he noticed the teacher Mr. Lorne was not sitting with his usual jumpsuit and grinning at him like a mad scientist, and it was a bit unusual for him. Mr. Lorne was many things, but never once he would be late or absent for his job, then again this is a mean that would drink from a beaker so maybe there would be a possibility he was unwell. After finally, the ball had rung once again, screeching its announcement that the second period had started.

Sure enough, the door opened and walked in a familiar brown-haired man in a brown pinstripe suit, with a brown tie and black rimmed glasses, and carrying a brown suitcase; the outfit was finished off with some white sneakers. Sam couldn't help himself. His jaw dropped to the floor as his eyebrows shot toward the ceiling as his brain trying to process if he really saw the Doctor become his substitute teacher or he was mad and started hallucinating.

"Good morning class," the Doctor announced. He placed the briefcase down at the table, and briefly looked at Sam and grinned with a wide enthusiastic grin. "Are we sitting comfortably?"

"Excuse me sir, but who are you?" A student in the front row asked.

"Very good question-" the Doctor said as he paused to look at the sheet of paper in the red binder with the seating plan on it. "Andy!" He exclaimed with a grin on his face. "I'm Mr. John Smith, but you can call me the Doctor, and I'll be filling your teacher Mr. Lorne."

The students frowned but the Doctor keep on eager face, as he spun his heel, picking up a red marker and scrawled 'PHYSICS' in a large letter onto the board, before he underlined it a couple of times.

"So, physics." the Doctor declared, turning back to face the class as he replaces the cap on the marker and tossed it back down on the desk. "Physics, eh? Physics. Phyyyyyysics. Physics! Physics, physics, physics, physics, physics, physics, physics, physics, physics, physics." He sniffed rather purposefully as the students stared at him with varying degrees of bemusement, "I hope one of you is getting all this down."

He turned and began to pace around his desk, "Let's see what you know. Two identical strips of nylon are charged with static electricity and hung from a string so they can swing freely. What would happen if they were brought near each other?"

Immediately, Milo his classmate raised his hand high into the air, and Sam looked at him a bit shocked. For of his knowledge, Milo was a bit behind in physics.

"Yes, uh what's your name?"

"Milo," the boy answered.

"Milo! Off you go," the Doctor encouraged.

"They'd repel each other because they have the same charge," Milo answered easily.

"Correctomundo!" the Doctor declared, only to cringed. "A word I have never used before, and hopefully never will again." He raised his eyebrows and glanced at Sam. "Question two. I coil up a thin piece of microware and place it in a glass of water. Then I turn on the electricity, and measure to see if the water's temperature is affected." He spoke on quickly, making sure the students wouldn't catch the information. "My question is this. How do I measure the electrical power going into the coil?"

Milo raised his hand immediately.

"Someone else?" the Doctor looked around the room. He glanced around to see the other kids completely confused, even Sam who looked down at his book. "No? Okay, Milo, go for it."

"Measure the current and PDs in an ammeter and a voltmeter."

The students glanced over at Milo, looking impressed with their fellow classmate, but Sam was vaguely impressed by him. Half of him was clearly impressed by Milo, thinking probably he got some tutor, but half of him vaguely suspicious on what happened to him, because the last question was confusing and he got a feeling the Doctor did that on purpose; also, even if he got a tutor, it would help with his test or up his grade, not become this super genius.

"Two to Milo!" the Doctor declared with a nod and smile, leaning against the desk as he completely focuses on the boy. "Right then, Milo, tell me this." He paused before speaking so fast, no one could barely keep up with what he was saying. "The greater the dampening of the system, the quicker it loses energy to its surroundings."

"False."

"What is non-coding DNA?"

"DNA that doesn't code for a protein."

"Sixty-five thousand nine hundred and eighty-three times five?"

"Three hundred and twenty-nine thousand, nine hundred and fifteen."

Some of the students continued to look impressed but now a few started to look just a little uneasy. The Doctor however, continued to stare at the bright boy levelly as he shot his next question at him, "How do you travel faster than light?"

"By opening a quantum tunnel with an FTL factor of thirty-six point seven recurring," Milo responded once again, without missing a beat.

The Doctor gaped, staring at the boy with his mouth open slightly at his answered an impossible question, even for a child genius. Planet Earth simply didn't have the knowledge and yet Milo had gotten the answer right. He even had barely batted an eye at the question, the answer had simply rolled off his tongue as if it was a common knowledge. Slowly, he retreated his focus and smirked slightly,  _Bingo._


	32. Trouble with Lunch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything, except my original character. Everything owned by the BBC.
> 
> A/N: Hello!
> 
> I lived! And I have watched three episodes of the new Thirteenth Doctor, all I gotta say is those are brilliant. I loved Yaz, Graham, and Ryan. I loved the episodes, I loved the new TARDIS, and I loved her new costume. I seriously considering of buying her long coat or her t-shirt.
> 
> Anyway, there would be a lot of changes in this episode and no. Not about taking out Sarah Jane Smith, we're still meeting her but there are going to have a lot of changes.
> 
> I am babbling, and of course!
> 
> Enjoy.

It was all started as a quite easy mission for Mickey Smith to infiltrated Deffry Vale High School with their peculiar range of grades for the past few months with their higher grade of students that could past some of them to be labelled genius or prodigy. After all, his training made him quite proficient in this area; he grew up as an estate kid, and not to mention now working as an active agent in UNIT, there's also his little time encounter with the Doctor. He was now had months of experience in something that always comes up as bizarre or mysterious.

That's also how Mickey Smith found himself as a temporary P.E teacher of the blatantly boring high school. It gone well enough, until of course there's a certain situation that made him almost blown his cover, there's also the issue with the current headmaster and a few teachers he brought him that become suspicious of him, there's also a disturbing development in the case of missing students. This is probably why his boss decided to called on the best, the one they trust who could help him with this.

And thus why the Doctor become the new physic teacher at the school.

Mickey tried in a desperate attempt to keep himself from burst in anger when he was told to called him. He didn't want any relation with the Doctor anymore, after what happened the last time, and what happened to her. The image of him bringing her body to the flat, with his solemn looked, to them, still stir an anger towards him, but he also needs to obey his boss, and of course he needs to try tolerate him, for now.

"Penny for your thought, Mickey," the Doctor said, startling him from his thought. He saw the Doctor sat down next to him at the lunch table.

He shrugged. "How's your teaching job?"

"Not that bad, a bit boring mind you," the Doctor told him, he sighed and looked at him. "I can't help to not slip myself to teach them quantum physics. Couldn't you gotten me a spot teaching a subject I have kind of control, for example history?"

Mickey miserably failed at hiding his smirk. "Don't blame me for the places the school had open," he defended himself. "Besides, half of the school teacher has been replaced, is easier for us to slipped in whatever opening they had that didn't involve the Headmaster arrangement."

"Yeah, you're right," the Doctor sighed, folded his arms and leaned back towards the chair. "Besides, there is something weird around here, boy in class this morning-got knowledge way beyond planet Earth."

"I've told ya," Mickey rolled his eyes. "Could be worse. I could have gotten you a job as a lunch lady." He pointed out a stain on the table. "Could you just? There's a bit of gravy. Jus there."

The Doctor glared at him, but kept the remainder of his grumblings to himself as he ate his meal. "Do these chips taste funny to you?" he asked a few minutes later.

"A bit yeah," Mickey acknowledged. "They're alright though. Wish I had school dinners like this." He commented.

"It's very well behaved, this place," the Doctor said. He rocked his chair onto the back two legs, looking around the canteen. "I expected happy slapping hoodies. Happy slapping hoodies with ASBOs. Happy slapping hoodies with ASBOs and ringtones. Ay?" He grinned at Mickey, bobbing his head. "Ay? Oh, yeah. Don't tell me I don't fit in."

"Oh yeah, you fit in-about as well as old grandpas think they do when they think they know something hip and cool," Mickey shot back as he snagged a few fries and chewed them thoughtfully.

"Oi!"

"So what next?"

"We go back to class, keep an eye on the children. If they are the target, we need to figure out why."

Mickey nodded, agreeing. "You done?"

"Yeah, thanks."

Mickey piled his tray on top of his and went to return them both to the kitchens. Some of the lunch people were carefully moving a large barrel with strange symbols on its side. Each one adorned in heavy duty protective gear, from breathing masks and googles to thick protective gloves, the kind used when dealing with acidic chemicals, which only made Mickey frowned more. He knows health and safety is number one, but this one was a bit overkill; what kind of food that they actually have quite hazardous ingredients, then suddenly all those lunch he had on his school times made sense.

"Careful," the head dinner lady ordered, "Don't spill a drop."

Mickey eyed them trying to unobtrusive about it, as the group made slow but steady progress across the kitchen when the cart rattled slightly.

"I said keep it steady!" the head dinner lady snapped, "Careful, that's it. Easy now. Steady." She guided them.

His phone began to ring and he almost jumped at the sudden sound, as he dropped the trays off with the rest. He swiftly moved to answer it, digging it out of his pocket, as he continued watch the group, trying carefully handled the barrel.

"Right, second barrel, quickly now!" the head dinner already ordered and they all rushed off to get the second barrel.

"What you got?" Mickey asked quickly, trying to whispered his way so no one could hear.

'Confirmation' Taka Lee answered. He was Mickey's colleague at work and currently tried to gives everything he needs, as he searched through UNIT server. 'I still can't get into anything locked by Torchwood, but UNIT did confirm the UFO sightings as legitimate before it all become classified. As far as I can tell, they think it was a harmless visit and the aliens-whoever they are-didn't stay for long or even land.'

"Yeah, but I'll tell you what though," Mickey murmured quietly. He glanced over and checked if anyone would be checking. "Three months ago, turns out all the kitchen staff were replaced, and there's also a huge change of staff from the Maths and Science department. Not to mention, this lots are weird."

'Yeah, there's definitely something going on around here,' Taka Lee told him. 'What's the Doctor said about this?'

"Oh, he confirmed it alright. He thinks maybe one or more kids are the target." Mickey was interrupted as a second barrel the lunch crew was carting in toppled over. One of the woman was splashed and immediately started screaming. "I've got to go." He said quickly and hung up.

Back in the kitchen, Mickey watched wide eyed as the badly scolded woman, her skin steaming as the oil seemingly continued to burn her, as she continued to wail in agony, "Get her up! Get her up!" the head dinner lady demanded and the woman who was clearly in agony was helped to her feet and swiftly hustled into an office and the blinds where swiftly pulled.

Mickey having crept forward, tried to peak through the partition but it was no good, the blinds to tightly drawn. He heard another agonized scream and started dialling. The head dinner lady came out of the office and immediately spotted him. She pulled down her googles, leaning against the doorframe, her eyes narrowing suspiciously on him. "What are you doing?" she demanded to know?"

"What does it looks like? I'm calling an ambulance, "Mickey replied, stating the obvious.

"No need," the head dinner lady informed him firmly, and Mickey hung up a bit reluctantly. "She's quite all right."

There was a sudden sound from behind the door that looked like a sudden fire had broken out, followed by a loud crash and then another scream from within the office. Mickey stared at the office door again, smoke billowing out from underneath the doorframe as it went suddenly quite, making him more suspicious and worried.

"Didn't look alright to me," Mickey said, glancing at the office.

"It's fine," the dinner lady said. "She does that."

With that, she turned back and went into the office as she closed the door before shutting the blinds so Mickey couldn't see in. Mickey stood in front of the door for a moment, utterly confused. He was going to have to tell the Doctor about this later.

0o0

Meanwhile back to the Doctor, he decided to sit and waited for a while until finished lunched time and waited in his seat. He spotted Sam Piper who sat with his peer, a boy who he remembered named Kenny who had packed lunch, and the blonde girl who he remembered also remembered act a bit jittery named Melissa who was eating the chips but also, when she talked, waving them around as her hands moved rapidly.

"That's new Physics teachers a bit odd." Kenny commented as he shushed a bit, so the man didn't hear him. "His gob, and not to mention his rapid fire questions."

"Yeah, he is a bit odd. But what's more odd is that Milo answering his question," Melissa replied. She popped one of the fries in his mouth. "I don't remember him being a super genius all of the sudden."

"Neither do you." Kenny teased.

She responded by throwing some chips towards Kenny, as he dodges giggling.

"But there's been a lot of new faces around here recently, hasn't there?" Sam inquired, as casually as he could. He usually didn't pay much attention to his school, but things were getting weirder than usual, then again the Doctor was here so something was definitely up with his school.

"Yeah, now I think about it. Just kind of happened I suppose." Melissa told him. "Then again, lots of student getting sick, like Maya. Her mum said she was sick, said she got a headache or somethin'"

"Huh?"

"I heard that Mr. Riordan, our old physic teacher won the lotter." Kenny blurted out, trying to change the conversation. He noticed how the teacher were looking at them.

Sam smiled. "Well, we can't all be that lucky," he pointed out.

A teacher crossed the cafeteria which took the Doctor and Sam attention. Sam recognised him from their Maths class, his name was familiar with Bruce Wayne last name, Mr. Wagner. He paused at their tables and bent down towards them, "Melissa. You'll be joining my class for next period. Milo's failed me, so it's time we moved you up to the top class," He turned and his gaze fell on Kenny who was seated with a packed lunch from home in front of him, "Kenny, not eating the chips?"

"I'm not allowed," Kenny replied, staring dismally down at his packed lunch.

"And Mr. Piper," Mr. Wagner said, turning to him. "It's great to see you here, yet it's a pity you can't join for any of our extra class."

"Yes, it is sir," Sam said, with a polite smile.

"I can see you're not touching your lunch," Mr. Wagner pointed out.

"I'm allergic to potatoes." Sam lied.

Mr. Wagner eyed him suspiciously until he nodded and turned away from them to address another student, "Luke. Extra class. Now," he informed.

Luke and some other students followed immediately, and Sam watched intently before sweeping his gaze around the room. He saw the Doctor gazing up at the upper level balcony, and he glanced up to see the Headmaster, Finch standing there, overlooking the whole canteen. For some reason, that made Sam felt uneasy as he can feel himself shivered in fear.

A sudden sound of a loud table startled him from his thought, he looked up and saw the Beagle's brothers looming over them and grinning wickedly at him. One of them forced his way to sat beside him while the other two in front of him, pushing Kenny away and signalled him to scrammed; Kenny hurriedly grabbed his lunch box and gave Sam an apologetic look as he got up and go to his class. Besides him, one of them squeeze his shoulder in warning, a warning not to run or catch any attention.

This won't end well.

"Enjoyin' lunch Piper?"

Two of them snickers and grabbed the fries as Sam can only sighed, and hoped he didn't go home with a black eye.

"Listen mate, about this morning-"

"Yeah," Max cut in. "This morning, where you make me lose my lunch. What are you goin' to do about that?"

"I told you, it was an accident." Sam told him exasperated.

"Accident my arse," Mag growled. He forced Sam to looked at him. "You did that on purpose, we all know how your trying to play everyday hero act."

"Yeah," Matt agreed. He kept on eating his chips.

"Well, if it's make you feel better, you can eat my chips every day and be done with it?" Sam suggested. He pushed his tray towards them.

"Nah, chips are boring. Besides, we could get much more from our lunch money." Max said. He pushed off the trays and put a hand on Sam's shoulder, locking him in. "We want something much more than that, how about you working on our homework for the months. That'll pay for the damage that you cost."

Sam frowned. "You want me. The kid who's absent a lot, to do your homework. I know you lot are dumb, but not this dumb."

He flinched when suddenly Max squeezed his shoulder harder. "Don't be a smart arse Piper. We all know you can give them to your cousins. Besides, it's either this or another accident with your arm, I'm sure the teacher would understand how clumsy you are, like the last time."

Sam shuddered, he didn't want another accident. It hurts, a lot. He didn't want that, not anymore.

"So what do you say?"

"I would say no."

The four of them startled and looked up, the Doctor or Mr. Smith as they know him was standing there with his arms folded and a stern anger expression towards them. He looked at them one by one, and each looked gives them a shiver to their bones, as if his eyes could suddenly shoot laser at them, they suddenly let go of Sam's shoulder and gave the teacher a sweet innocent smile.

The Doctor scoffed, as if that's going to work. "Well, is anyone going to tell me what's going on here?"

"We're just joking around," Max told him, trying to defuse the situation. He grabbed Sam again by the shoulder, giving him a warning looked. "It's what friend does, right Sam?"

"Right." Sam mumbled.

"So that wasn't you three I saw threaten him just now," the Doctor said. He glared at him. "Thinking I make a mistake of overhearing you lot telling him about working your homework, and getting him a black eye? Is that what it is?"

"No sir." the three of them answered.

"How about this then, you three get back to your class or I'll double your homework and make you clean up after the Biology class for months, seeing there are three of you lot," the Doctor pointed out. He brings his hands down to his pocket. "I'm sure Mrs. Goss needs the help she could get. You lot can start now."

"But sir-"

The Doctor only gave them a warning looked, as the three finally moved out from the table and walked outside towards the class. He grinned and sat down across for Sam, but his grin falls when he saw the boy was glaring at him.

"Why did you do that for?" Sam demanded.

"They were bothering you, I thought as a good teacher I should-"

"Stay out of trouble and minding your own business?" Sam questioned. He clearly was upset about this. "Don't you know what you've done? You made it worse. Not only for me but to everyone."

"What?" the Doctor asked, irritated by the replied. "What do you mean?"

"You do know they won't work their homework, they would bother someone else and you can't have a prove they didn't work it on their own because they would deny everything," Sam pointed out. He was right, there was one time that the teacher notices this but can't do anything about it, as she didn't have a solid prove. "And for your little cleaning act, you do know they would start forcing people to do that task for them, possibly could be me or the others and no, they won't refuse, because they would be too scared of them."

"That can't be right, the headmaster and the teachers would-"

"Not do anything," Sam finished. "Seriously Doctor, as far of a heavy punishment the school could give is probably a detention."

"I was just trying to help," the Doctor stated.

"What by making it worse?" Sam snapped. He sighed, and rubbed his face. "I'm sorry, I know you like helping people, but this isn't the place where you can help them and then everything can be alright. No, everything usually get worse."

The Time Lord could only have looked at the boy with a confused looked in his face, when was Sam, sweet kind Sam who would jump to any opportunity for saving people can become this pessimistic, and could care less when people needs help. Is the boy change that much? Was his decision to leave him behind, truly a mistake? Or was the way he acts shaped because of this school. He can't shake the feeling that it was his fault, maybe things could go differently if only they talked, but in the end Sam wouldn't opened up to him that quick. His child instinct would probably think how adult can't be trusted, and sharing about something deep wouldn't be that easy for him to opened up too. Same with him, he wouldn't want to blurted out the reason why he acted those ways to him, the only reasons why he would have opened up to a companion was because sometimes they would poke it too deep, he felt guilty, or he doesn't have enough lie to tell them anymore. But Sam, he was different, he knew when to back off, which was great yet it also can be a trouble.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Sam questioned him.

"I'm a substitute teacher," the Doctor told him.

"Really Doctor, what are you doing here?"

He sighed, can't really hide anything from this boy. "My friend needed my help, apparently your school has an abnormal test score for the last three months. There is also the fact that some students would disappear with any trace, also teachers would suddenly get replaced, and we all notice how smart one of your friend are."

"Yeah, we were just talking about that," Sam suddenly pointed out. He can't resist a good mystery. "The last lunch lady, who was this sweet old lady called Marge suddenly change, and the headmaster also insist on us only eating chips."

"Chips?"

"These chips," Sam hold one out. "He said, it's good for the student and this portion was created by the headmaster or something like that."

"Huh?" the Doctor said. He rubbed his chin, thinking.

"Do you think it's anything dangerous?" Sam asked again.

"Probably."

"Can I help?"

The Doctor looked at him surprised. "Help?"

"Yeah, I mean it's my school. It's the least I can do is to help you out," Sam said to him. He shrugged. "If it's not anything dangerous, I can help search around. Or not?"

He smiled, maybe the boy didn't change that much after all.

"Of course!" the Doctor exclaimed excitedly. He leans in closer. "Make sure you meet me in front of the school later at 6:30 PM." He got up and took his leaved until turn back to him. "Oh, and don't forget to work your homework first, then you could go. I won't take mystery solving as an excuse you're not working your homework."

Sam grinned "I won't forget."


	33. The Return of a Familiar Face

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Doctor Who, for the exception of my character.
> 
> A/N: Yeah, it's been a while. How are you guys liking the new season of Doctor Who so far. For me it started great, but the two last episode wasn't that good, to be hones. In fact, I do hope the next episode would be better, I guess this season's would focus on the past bit probably because on my observation, the story seems more interesting when the episode happened on the past; well for this season at least.
> 
> Anyway, what do you guys think about the story, I also wanna ask about the lenghts of the story. Is it too long? I think it's way too long. But if it's worth it, I would try and keep it but if it's not, then I would probably reduced it.
> 
> So, please review
> 
> Anyway, that's all I got.
> 
> Onto the story!

Sarah Jane Smith was wondering the corridors with Mr. Finch. He was showing her everything he wanted her to see, but the way he talked, the way he acted, was telling Sarah Jane what she wanted to know, telling her every assumption she has on the situation. She was descending a flight of stairs alongside the Headmaster, listening attentively as he talked about the changes he'd implemented.

"My improvements aren't confined to the classroom. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. We've implemented a new policy. School dinners are absolutely free. But compulsory. Do not try the chips." Mr. Finch encouraged, as he gave her a suspicious smile.

"Oh, I'd love to. Thank you!" Sarah Jane replied brightly, before she directed the conversation back to her investigation, "And it's got to be said, the transformation you've brought about is amazing. I mean, maybe you're working the children a little bit too hard now and then-" She trailed, eyeing the Headmaster intently.

"Hmm?" Mr. Finch hummed questioningly his brow furrowing slightly in disagreement with her statement.

"But I think good results," Sarah Jane quickly moved on upon seeing his reaction, her initial suspicions increasing, "They're more important than anything."

"Exactly," Mr. Finch agreed. "You're a woman of vision, Miss Smith."

"Oh, I can see everything, Mr. Finch," she murmured, a smile of her own, curing her lips as she fought down the urge to grimace at the man instead, "Quite clearly."

0o0

Lunch, chips, and outburst forgotten, he ambled down to the staff room and found a teacher who wasn't on his suspect list to pry information. The Doctor sat on a desk, a biscuit in hand, the packet in the other as he held it towards the teacher, who was called Mr. Parsons and trying to have a small talk with him as he leaned over against the desk beside him.

"Blimey you're a live saver," Mr. Parson said as he took one of the biscuit. "I've forgot my lunch, and chips aren't really my favourite."

"Help yourself out then," the Doctor said as he gave him a polite smile. "Chips not really my thing either, probably that's why I'm getting this biscuit."

Mr. Parson nodded. "You're the new physic teacher, aren't you?"

"Yes. Er... John, John Smith," the Doctor introduced himself.

"Nice to meet you John," Mr. Parson shook his hand in firm gripped as he gave him a smile. "How's your class so far? Catch any delinquent yet?"

"Nah, I was surprised how smart they are, and how behave they have been," the Doctor said. He gave the teacher a knowing look. "Like this boy in my class, Milo his name, answered all the question on university level with ease."

"Tell me about," Mr. Parson exclaimed in response. "Yesterday, I had a twelve-year old girl give me the exact height of the Walls of Troy, in cubits."

The Doctor nodded, clearly impress. "Blimey, in cubits!"

"Yeah, and that was supposed to be that sort of things that Piper boy would know," Mr. Parson whispered at him.

"I'm sorry, Piper?"

"Oh, wasn't he supposed to be at your class," Mr. Parsons said, clearly confused. "Sam Piper, a bit smaller than his peers, really quite, and a bit shy. He's smart that boy is, that's why he was moved up three years, due to his outstanding examination results, which was quite a huge surprised to everyone."

"Really?" the Doctor stated, clearly surprised by this.

Mr. Parsons scoffed. "That boy can have solved any mathematical problem under a minute and recite the whole periodic table, yet he took extra time reading rather than the other students, and can't run half a mile without needing his inhaler." He finished yet, there's a gleaming of proud in his tone. "Guess everyone has their strength and weaknesses, eh?"

The Doctor nodded and beamed a proud smiled. He felt that special feeling as if he was the proud parents who heard good things about his boy in a teacher-parents meeting which a bit odd for the moment yet wonderful at the same time. In truth, it has been a long time he felt this feeling.

"Probably that's why Finch wanted him to join his extra class," Mr. Parson quipped, which quickly shift his attention and remembered the extra class the new teacher told to one of the students. His feeling shifts back into business, suddenly feeling overprotective at the moment, he needs to get the bottom of this.

"The student you were talking about, the one who can give you the exact height of the Walls of Troy in cubits," the Doctor reminded him. "This happened ever since the new headmaster arrived?"

"Finch arrived three months ago. Next day, half of the staff got the flu. Finch replaced them with that lot," Mr. Parsons nodded over to a group of stern looking teachers, that were standing rigidly in silence, looking for all the world that they would be rather anywhere but here.

Mr. Parsons turned back his attention to him. "Except for the P.E teacher Mr. Smith, and the teacher you replaced John, and yours was just plain weird, her winning the lottery like that."

The Doctor blinked at him, "How's that weird?"

"She never played," Mr. Parsons told him. "Said something about the ticket was posted through her door at midnight."

"Hmm," the Doctor hummed thoughtfully, staring at Mr. Parsons innocently as he popped another biscuit into his mouth. "The world is very strange."

"Excuse me, colleagues. A moment of your time." Mr. Finch called. Talk died down as Finch turned to reveal a middle aged woman standing behind him.

The Doctor and Mr. Parsons straightened, both turning to face the headmaster. His jaw dropped in a moment he met the familiar face he would recognised anywhere.

"May I introduce, Sarah Jane Smith. Miss Smith is a journalist who's writing a profile about me, for the Sunday Times. I thought it might be useful for her to get a view from the trenches, so to speak. Don't spare my blushes." Mr. Finch told them with a smile, before turned and walked back out the door he'd just entered.

The Doctor's surprised turned to joy, as a feeling of nostalgia hitting him hard. He hadn't seen Sarah in, well, over hundred years but he still remembered their adventures together fondly, he never forgot to be precise. Sarah had always been one of her companions who left a huge impact of the Doctor, since the day she came in UNIT and met him to the day he regenerated, until the end where they need to be parted because of his home planet calling him back. The Doctor turned away so Sarah wouldn't see that he had been staring.

"Hello," an instantly recognizable voice greeted from behind her a few moments later.

The Doctor rocked back on his heels, feeling a soppy grin on his face. "Oh, I should think so," he murmured breathlessly, unable to keep his excitement out of his voice.

Sarah Jane Blinked. Has she met him before? It felt she met him before, actually it felt more as if something was tickling her at the edge of her consciousness; a strange familiarity echoing from deep within. But that couldn't be. She shrugged that feeling away and smiled, pulling out her notepad.

"And, you are?"

"Hmm? Er…" the Doctor floundered having forgotten for a moment that Sarah wouldn't have a clue who he was, "Smith. John Smith."

She smiled wistfully. "John Smith. I used to have a friend who sometimes went by that name."

"Well, it's a very common name," the Doctor responded, still smiling widely in a definite beaming grin now.

"He was a very uncommon man," Sarah Jane replied, her voice rich with nostalgia. "Nice to meet you," she added, coming back to the present and offering him a hand to shake.

The Doctor took it enthusiastically. "Nice to meet you. Yes, very nice. More than nice. Brilliant."

Sarah Jane stared at him for a moment, unsure of what to make of the man buoyant attitude. "So, um, have you worked here long?"

"No," the Doctor said. He looked around the staff room, trying to appear as if he belonged. "It's only my second day."

Her demeanour softened and he knew what she was thinking. "If he'd only been here a few days, then he couldn't be part of whatever was going on. "Oh, you're new then. So, what do you think of the school?" she asked, stepping closer to lessen the chance of them being overheard. "I mean, this new curriculum? So many children getting ill. Doesn't that strike you as odd?"

The Doctor's respiratory bypass kicked in, and he realised he hadn't taken a breath since he'd seen Sarah. "You don't sound like someone just doing a profile," he said conspiratorially, after sucking in a quick breath.

She smiled, but some of the openness disappeared from her expression. "Well, no harm in a little investigation while I'm here."

"No. Good for you." He watched her turn her journalistic instincts on another teacher, and his face split into a wide grin. "Good for you. Oh, good for you, Sarah Jane Smith."

0o0

"Hello."

Sam Piper looked up from the desk, startled and saw a woman with brown hair, bright warm brown eyes sat in front of him and smiling softly at him. He frowned, there shouldn't be any teacher nor students here at this hour as this is teaching hours, they should be in class, and of course he should be in class. But it was P.E and he got a special pass for not joining that class, mainly reasons were his asthmas and of course he wasn't particularly useful in the class as he failed all the sports there is, it's as if sports hated him for a reasons, well probably not all. That's probably why he took this time to worked his homework he didn't like, because to be honest, he was struggling a bit on working something he didn't like.

"Shouldn't you be in class, young man?" the woman asked, she frowned at the boy.

Sam grinned. "Well to be fair, I'm studying in the library. So it's not I'm missed the teacher boring lecture about the same thing I'm reading."

The woman smiled at him. "Sorry, where are my manners," she suddenly recollected, before she stuck out her hand. "Sarah Jane Smith."

"I'm Sam." He smiled, shaking the offered hand. "Er, is there something I can help you with?" Sam asked, appraising the woman.

"Oh, I'm an investigate reporter and I'm running a special on the remarkable results this school is producing." Sarah Jane stated. She gave the boy a convincing looked. "It appears the sole reasons was because of the new headmaster Mr. Finch. That's why I'm here actually, to interview him."

"Funny," Sam said. "There's a lot of people investigating my school lately, I think you're the first one actually saying they're here just wanna interview my headmaster." He finished with a knowing glint.

"Clever boy, you are." Sarah Jane stated, grinning at the boy. She then leaned in closer to the boy. "So, anything you can say that's happening in your school?"

"Yeah. I guess." Sam murmured. He looked around the library, trying to be careful.

Sarah Jane nodded grimacing lightly, "Have you seen many of the staff of the headmaster brought in? Do you know what kind of issues he had with them? Or perhaps you've seen your old teachers getting called by the headmaster or arguing with them because your friend getting sick?"

"I genuinely don't know."

"But if you had a guess?" Sarah Jane prompted insistently.

"I'd say it's because they want to leave, or probably the did have the fight with the new headmaster. I mean Marge did work here for thirty years and she always told us how little goblins we are, she probably can't take it anymore and decide to retire after Mr. Finch arrival," Sarah Jane nodded, and scribbled something else down on her notepad. "Although, it's weird how we always need to eat those chips they always feed us. It got bored after a while."

"Chips?"

"It's the new menu from the new headmaster, he said we can only eat those chips from now on to increase our brain structure or somethin like that, but it got a bit boring so some of us brought our lunch, like my friend Kenny." Sam told her. He then frowned. "I guess it works on some children, my friend Melisa got really great at her lessons, but I got this weird headache when I eat it."

"I'll keep the chips in mind, and see if he's willing to answer some of my questions," Sarah Jane told him. "Well, I don't want to bother you, it seems you have interesting homework to done. Thank you for your time, it was nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too Miss Smith."

Sarah Jane smiled. "Please, call me Sarah Jane."

"Well, it was nice to meet you Sarah Jane," Sam told her. "And good luck with your report."

"Thank you."

Sam smiled politely as Sarah Jane strode away from him with purpose. His hazel green eyes following after the older woman curiously for a moment before he turned away focusing on finishing his homework history he needed to get done before the class started in a few hours. Yet his mind wondered that probably he needs to tell the Doctor about Sarah Jane Smith.


	34. Living Bat Teacher

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own any of Doctor Who property in the exception of my own original character, everything else belong to the BBC.
> 
> A/N: We finally meet with Sarah Jane Smith properly. Sorry if this a bit mess and took a bit longer , as I tried to jumble around because how different the atmosphere now considering we won't have Rose in this story. So I sort of need to take her out of the picture and replaced a few of her dialogue and gave it to Mickey Smith.
> 
> He's a UNIT agent now, how cool is that? Yeah, I made him a UNIT Agent. Of course in the canon he was Torchwood but the whole parallel world didn't happen, or not yet happened? I don't know, I am confuse.
> 
> Anyway!
> 
> Proceed to the story!

Later at night, Sam finished his homework quickly, well half of his homework that was given to him. He sorts of missed a bit of English and Geography, but he did finish his maths and physics, so that's count at finishing your school work. Rushing through his backpack, he looked at the watch and it was 6:20 PM, ten more minutes for their time of meeting. In a moment, he stood silence in his room, trying to listened who was at home at the time, so he could plan to sneak out at of his house without they know that he was currently at home.

He can only listen of his uncle heavy shoes, and his twin cousins bickering on who's turn was it to played the house computer. There was no screaming of them being behave or screeching his name, that would surprisingly only come out from his aunt, and that was great, because if he wanted to sneak out from the house, he needs to make sure she hasn't come home from her little book club gathering. Nodding, he grabbed opened his cupboard and grabbed a huge green coat and pocketing his inhaler as he quietly rushed out from the door and closing the door quietly.

Outside, he quickly catches the bus which would stopped near his school and waited for thirty minutes as he finally arrived on time in front of his school. There, he felt a bit awkward to see the school at night time, now knowing why some of the students calling it prison sometimes. Stepping inside the school yard, he saw the Doctor was standing with the familiar face he known for a few months.

"Mr. Smith?"

As soon as he heard his voiced, he turned around and frowned. "Piper, what are you doing here at night?"

"I- It's uh-"

"I invited him Mickey," the Doctor told him. He turned to him. "He offer his help to investigate his school, which I accepted of course."

"What?" Mickey fumed. "How can you just accepted his offer to help?"

"To be honest," the Doctor tugged his ear awkwardly. "I know Sam for quite a time, we sort of travelled together." He told him, as Mickey gave him a knowing looked. "Don't give me that looked, we need the help we can get and Sam was offering."

"Doesn't mean you have to accept his offer." Mickey retorted. He clearly disagrees with this. "He's a student here Doctor, and we're not here to have fun and giggles, this is dangerous. Besides, we have enough people to investigate, my team could-"

"I do not trust your team as I trust Sam," the Doctor cut in, clearly had enough with him. "Don't get me wrong, your team must be professional, and beside you they only know me for some UNIT file, clearly why you're the only one here is a proof why I am right. You also seem don't trust them enough to even investigate with them." He stated firmly, then turned his attention to Sam. "Besides, Sam is capable enough to investigate, he's clever and know the school better than us."

Mickey sighed. "Fine, just be careful yeah? We don't need another report of children gone missing."

"Of course I will," the Doctor said. He narrowed his eyes. "There's nothing to worry about, he's with me. I'll keep him safe."

"That's what you said the last time, and look what happened." Mickey told him. Clearly disagree with his statement

The Doctor clenched his jaw, wanted to retorted something else until he was cut off by Mickey turning around and walking inside the school, clearly not giving any room of any retorted from the Doctor. Together they finally walked inside the school, hurriedly get on the left side of the school as Mickey opened a fire door and stepped out into a dark hallway, followed by the Doctor and Sam. Sam shivered a little and tucked his coat closer.

"You alright?" the Doctor asked.

"Yeah, it's weird seeing school at night," Sam commented, shivering a little despite the warm jacked he'd put on before they'd left the TARDIS as they glanced about the deserted hallway they'd stepped into, "It just feels wrong."

"A bit creepy," the Doctor agreed with a small nod.

"When I was a kid, Rose and I used to think all the teachers slept in school," Mickey admitted as they cautiously walked down the hallway. He smirked. "She's really convincing when she wants to be."

The Doctor glanced over at his lips curved in a small amused smile, "Really?"

"Nah, I just let her think that," Mickey responded somewhat glad for the distraction and the low sound of their low murmuring voices.

"Alright team," the Doctor spoke his amusement at the two of them, lingering his tone. He paused as he briefly mulled over the word, "Oh, I hate people who say team. Um, gang? Comrades- no that's not it." He briefly looked over the two of them who shared an amused looked. "Anyway, Sam go to the kitchen and get a sample of that oil, and be very careful." He pressed on the words, as he turned to Mickey. "Mickey, the new staff are all Maths teachers. Go and check the Maths department. I'm going to look in Finch's office." He turned and headed back off towards the stairs. "Be back here in ten minutes."

"You gonna be alright?" Mickey asked him, clearly concerned.

"I'll be fine," Sam told him as he smiled nervously. "It's a bit cold thou. How about you?"

"I'm alright. Infiltration and investigation? Some of my favourite pastimes," Mickey joked before hesitating. "One thing though, it's dark here and I am not sure where's the Math department?" he asked with a sheepish smile.

Sam smirked and pointed in the opposite direction, "Down there, turn left, through the fire doors, and on the right."

"Thank you," Mickey said before he took off with a sharp nod, leaving Sam to shake his head, and wonder how Mr. Smith accepted to be some secret agent. With a last glanced, he turned his way to the kitchen.

0o0

Sam peered around the corners, slowly approaching the kitchen door. He pushed open the kitchen doors, as he slowly he reached towards his pocket and found a small flashlight, turning it on as he started to shine it through the barrels. He approached it slowly and took the chair to boost his height.

He took the lid off from one of the barrels and carefully spooned some of the oil into the jar he was clutching. A shadow passed over, and he felt the back of his hair stood up, someone or something was watching him. He searched through the shadow for something that could move and attacked him, clutching the jar, he quickly closed the lid and hurriedly run to the door and through the corridors.

0o0

The Doctor was close to Finch's office when he heard a cracking coming from another room. Cautious, he backed into the shadows to hide his form. Soon enough, a figure emerged from a classroom a few doors down. The Doctor smiled when he saw the familiar face of his old friend, Sarah Jane Smith, investigating the office. As Sarah crept down the hall, the Doctor tailed him silently, wanting to see what she was up to. His anticipation rose as Sarah got closer to the storeroom where the Doctor had parked the TARDIS that night. Sarah Jane was checking every room she passed, so it was only a matter of time before she saw the ship again.

Finally, a few minutes later, Sarah opened the right door. The Doctor heard her quite gasp when she saw the blue police box resting there.

Now was the time. The Doctor stepped out of the shadows.

"Hello Sarah Jane."

Sarah Jane whirled around, a gasp leaving her mouth at the unexpected intrusion. She gave a little sound that was half laugh, half sob. "It's you. Oh, Doctor. Oh my God, it's you, isn't it?" She reached out a hand then dropped it. "You've regenerated."

"Yeah, oh-" He counted to himself. "Half a dozen times since we last met."

The shock and wonder he'd felt when seeing her that afternoon were painted on her face. "You look incredible."

"So do you," the Doctor said with a soft smile, meaning every word.

But she shook her head. "I got old."

He was grateful the dimly lit hallway hid the shiver that ran through him. The frailty of human life astounded and terrified him. He always tried to leave his friends before he could see them died, yet sometimes, not many, sometimes. The recent memory on the floor of Game Station, came back to haunted him.

"What are you doing here?" Sarah Jane asked.

He blinked and brought himself back to the conversation with an effort. "Well, UFO sighting, school gets record results, an old friend called me. I couldn't resist. What about you?"

"The same," Sara laughed incredulously, but then her face dropped. "I thought you died." She told the Doctor, a quaver in her voice. "I waited for you and you didn't come back, and I thought you must have died."

Loneliness swept over him, as he answered with a tired voice. "I lived. Everyone else died."

"What do you mean?"

"Everyone died, Sarah." the Doctor told her simply, his voice nearly broke.

Sarah stared at him, unable to comprehend fully what he had been through. So she decided to change the topic and smiled again. "I can't believe it's you."

And then came the scream.

The Doctor's head turned around in a reflex motion, and Sarah Jane burst into laughter, reveling in delight as the old feeling of adrenaline coursing through her veins came back to her. "Okay, now I can!"

The Time Lord shot a grin at her, as the two of them bolted through the corridors together. Heart pounding a bit as the Doctor feared the worst, in hope it wasn't Sam who was screaming, it wasn't possibly him. As they reached where the Doctor had originally split from Sam and Mickey, the Doctor and Sam collided as he ran from the direction of the kitchen. The Doctor's arms flashed out to grab Sam before he fell.

"Whoa there!" the Doctor said to him. He holds him steady. "You alright, was that you screaming?"

Before he could answer, he noticed the woman that he met in the library.

"Oh, Sam this is-"

"Miss Sarah Jane Smith." Sam said in surprised and the older woman's eyes lit up as she recognized the boy from earlier.

"Just Sarah Jane, please Sam. We've talked about this." Sarah Jane told him, giving him a fond smile.

"You know each other already?" the Doctor asked.

"Yeah, met her earlier in the library, said she was a reporter," Sam replied, grinning at the woman.

"I am a reporter," Sarah Jane smiled. "And I knew you had to be with the Doctor, of course. You're the only boy I have meet who were suspicious with your school. Not to mention, the only one who talked to me."

Sam smiled as they continued to where they'd heard the scream. The trio took off toward the Maths department, where they quickly found Mickey Smith standing amongst a pile of vacuum packed objects.

"Sorry!" Mickey called out as the other three arrived. "Sorry it was only me, you told me to investigate so I started looking through some these cupboards," He explained as Sarah Jane examined the storage closet while the Doctor knelt down, "And all of these fell on me." He finished as Sam peered over the Doctor's shoulder.

"They're rats," Sam said, as he bent over to grabbed one of them and squeezed them slightly. "Dozens of rats. Vacuum packed rats."

A rat in hand, the Doctor stared up at Mickey. "And you decided to scream."

"It took me by surprise!"

"An agent of UNIT, screamed like a little girl?"

"It was dark! I was covered in rats."

"Nine, maybe ten years old." the Doctor mocked as he pointed at Mickey. "I'm seeing pigtails, frilly skirt."

"Back to the rats," Mickey changed the subject. He rolled his eyes as he sighed. "Doesn't anyone else see anything strange about rats in a school."

"Well, obviously they use them in Biology lessons. They dissect them," Sarah Jane said, sounding a bit superior. "Don't you dissect this at school."

"No, we don't dissect rats in school anymore. Haven't done for years after the revolution rats incident." Sam told them. He saw the three of them signalling him to continue. "There was a rat's revolution in this school, one of the student released all the rats in school as a protest because we used to dissect them. We switched to frogs instead, but then the frog revolution happened, so no more dissecting animal at school."

"Everything started when Mr. Finch arrived," the Doctor said. He tossed the rat he had been holding to Mickey, and grinned when the boy dropped it before heading out into the corridor again. "We should go and check his office."

"So, you travelled with the Doctor?" Sarah jane asked, as they walked through the corridor.

"Sort of," Sam replied, he fidgets a bit. "I found him on my backyard and helped him, so he takes me to travel with him, for a while of course. I still got school to think about. "

"But you're so young," Sarah Jane pointed out. "Wouldn't your parents be worried?"

"I don't know." Sam muttered. He looked up at her. "I think they should, right?"

"Of course, what kind of parents who wouldn't worried if their son disappears?" Sarah Jane retorted back, clearly surprised by his remarked.

"Yeah. I guess." Sam told her, his voice filled with hesitation. "How about you, did you travel with the Doctor?"

"You can say that," Sarah Jane replied. "I travel with him for a while, we met when I was investigating as a reporter. He was a peculiar man, called himself John Smith, I should've known when he first introduces himself as John Smith."

"He seems like to used John Smith."

"He does, it is so unoriginal don't you think?" Sarah Jane told him with a wink which made him laughed.

"Oi! John Smith is a perfectly good name!" the Doctor said, defensively as he charged forward and muttering about human and their nature to complain about everything as Sam and Sarah Jane only gave each other exasperated looked at him.

The four of them finally arrived as the Doctor tried to opened the headmaster's office with the sonic screwdriver. "Maybe those rats were food."

"Food for what?" Sarah Jane asked.

"Well, there aren't any school pets that get fed rats or any school pets at all," Sam murmured slowly, his nose scrunching as he thought about the many pets that had been either missing, eaten, or dissected yet none would have a carefully vacuum packed rats being a food source.

The lock pooped opened and the Doctor peered inside, his curious gaze was drawn upwards as strange sounds came from the direction of the ceiling and his eyes widened as he stared up at the creatures that were hanging from the ceiling, "Mickey, you know how you used to think all the teachers slept in the school? Well… they do," the Doctor murmured and the others peered up towards the ceiling, their eyes widening in shock at the large people sized bat like creatures that were hanging upside down from the ceiling.

"No way!" Mickey gasped, gaping at them for a brief moment before he turned on his heel and dashed back down the corridor as fast as he could.

Sam swallowed as he stared up at the large sleeping bat like creatures as Sarah Jane and the Doctor slowly backed away from the door of the office. He turned and stared off down the corridor at a quick pace as the Doctor shut the door with a soft click, and behind the closed door, one of the giant bat creature's eyes snapped open and screeched. The sound went unnoticed as the Doctor turned and hurried off down the corridor the moment he softly closed the door, he swiftly caught up to Sam and automatically took his hand in his own as he began to dragged him away from the school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to thanks Tegan for the lovely comment. Of course Tegan Jovanka always is lovely and brilliant. Anyway, I wanted to thank you in private message, but considering you don't have an account that mean I can't. This also doesn't mean I am not thankful for those who comment, I do, and I would usually message them in private message.
> 
> Anyway! I would like to thank you those who reads, favorite, follow, and review my stories. Thank you all, and please send reviews, favorite, follow, in Hypercubes and send to me via the nearest transdimensional portal or time vortex entry points.


	35. Affirmative! There is Trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Doctor Who, only a few like Original Characters and all. Other than that, it all belong to the BBC.
> 
> A/N: Okay, I may or may not went overboard on the length of the story. I am so sorry if it's a bit too much. But hey, here it is! Anyway, hopefully you guys would enjoy it, and the chapter won't be too boring as I am currently writing the next one. Also! A reminder that this Mickey Smith might work with UNIT but he still is the same Mickey Smith we know, probably. I don't know if I'm doing it on writing him yet. Too much? I'm sorry. I'll try to decrease the words next chapter, and I do admit it went a bit overboard or a bit OOC in a certain character. Oh who am I kidding, this is too much and made zero sense, no one wants to read it.
> 
> I'm babbling.
> 
> Hope you like it!
> 
> Onward with the story.

The Doctor, Sam, and Sarah Jane walked outside, following after a sprinting Mickey. They had found the giant bat people in Finch's office, and Mickey had bolted making the Doctor sighed, thinking how some things never change. Sam however was breathing down quite raspy, he hated running and had a good reason too. His lungs would felt as if someone has set it on fire, as he grabbed his knee and breathing down heavily, feeling every breath he took were him breathing through a straw as he quickly grabbed his inhaler.

"I am not going back in there," Mickey said, panting slightly as he stopped outside the school. "No way."

Sarah Jane quickly gone to his side, noticing how there was something wrong. "Sam, you alright?"

He nodded reassuringly. "Those were teachers."

"When Finch arrived, he brought with him," the Doctor told them, affirmed. "Seven new teachers, four dinner ladies and a nurse. Thirteen. Thirteen big bat people." He spun on his heel, headed back toward the school. "Come on."

"Come on?" Mickey protested, staring at the Doctor wide eyed, "You've got to be kidding!"

"I need the TARDIS," the Doctor interjected, "I've got to analyse that oil from the kitchen."

"I might be able to help you there," Sarah Jane said with an excited grin," I've got something to show you!" She exclaimed as she grabbed the Doctor's arm leading him towards the carpark.

Sam blinked and followed curiously, whilst Mickey Smith closed his eyes in irritation for a moment, as he fell into step who was following with a large amount of relief that they were moving away from the school building instead of towards it like the Doctor had originally been intending.

Together, they followed Sarah Jane to her car, she led them directly and immediately popped the boot grinning widely the entire time as she revealed a bulky object covered with a green plaid blanket. The Doctor frowned at the bulky object that was taking up space in the boot and covered protectively by a green plaid blanket. He pulled the blanket away and beamed a delighted grin to see what appeared to be a robot dog.

"K-9!" the Doctor cried in excitement. "Sam Piper, Mickey Smith, allow me to introduce K9. Well, K-9 Mark III to be precise."

"Why does he look so disco?" Mickey asked.

"Oi! Listen, in the year five thousand, this was a cutting edged." the Doctor protested, shooting him an offended look.

"This is so cool," Sam gushed, and the Doctor shot him a quick fond smile before he returned his attention to K-9. He turned his attention to Sarah Jane. "Can you turn him on?"

"Oh, sweetheart I wish I could." Sarah Jane said as she shrugged sadly. "But as you can see, he just, nothing."

"Well, why didn't you get him repaired?" the Doctor asked a bit incredulously, his gaze returning to K-9, taking in the rust that was beginning to set in. His poor dog!

"Well, it's not like getting parts for a Mini Metro," Sarah Jane bit back a bit helplessly, "Besides, the technology inside him could rewrite human science. I couldn't show him to anyone."

"What about UNIT?" Mickey asked her, "Couldn't they have helped?"

Sarah Jane eyes narrowed. "I don't like the military," she told the man stiffly, "I wasn't going to risk them taking K-9 away from me."

"Ooh," the Doctor cooed as he patted the tin dog. "What's the nasty lady done to you, eh?"

Sam laughed, sharing a small look with Sarah Jane who gave him a light smile at him. K-9 looked rusty, and Sarah Jane looked older, he was now curious on how long they travelled with the Doctor; it's actually a prove there are some people who travelled with him and survived, but what made her stop traveling then, did she decided it gets too much or the Doctor decided that for her. He glanced back over at the Doctor who was still happily cooing over K-9, stroking the top of his head, and Sarah Jane who was now looked happy, she looked happy and yet there's something in her eyes that saying how she missed this all of this.

Sam's attention was drawn away from them when the hairs suddenly stood up on Sam's neck and he scanned the night for a moment with a frown, he could have sworn he felt eyes on him, unfriendly ones that made him shiver in fear. But it had only been for a moment before the feeling had gone again, and he can't help it to feel unease. His attention went back again to Mickey who couldn't contain his aggravation anymore, broke his silence as he spun back around to look at them, his annoyed eyes focusing on the Doctor's back.

"Look, no offence," Mickey bit out from between clenched teeth, "But could you two stop petting for a minute? Never mind the tin dog, we're busy!"

"He's right," the Doctor sighed, ignoring the man's tone, "We got to fix K-9" He nodded and forced himself to close the boot, grinning one last time at the robotic dog before he did.

Mickey scowled, "That's wasn't exactly what I had in mind." He told them, but even so, he trudged towards the car as the others were clambering into.

None of them noticed the large sized bat person as it flew across the sky, following after the car as it pulled out onto the road.

0o0

Sarah Jane Smith drove them to the nearest chip store, in the way she told them a lot of stories about the Doctor that made them laughed in disbelief, such as his unusual wardrobe; it made the Doctor felt embarrass yet he also felt happy that he met again with his best friend Sarah. He misses this, laughing along with his friend, until the dreadful feeling that this won't last, his Sarah Jane has looked older, time has taken away some of her life line and that made him realize his curse.

His train of thought were stopped when they have arrived in the chip store. Together, Mickey and the Doctor hauled the tin dog out of the boot and carried it in, setting in on top of the red table, claiming awkwardly how it was a science project that they had been working on while the people giving them a strange looked from the waitress and the customer.

Mickey stood in line to buy chips and asked Sam to joined with him while the Doctor and Sarah Jane sat, fixing the robot dog and laughing as they chatted. In that moment, he wondered what would have happened if Rose still here with them, would she be joining them and living him alone or would she be angry and jealous that the Doctor never told him about having another companion, would she come back to him and be at home rather than joining the Doctor and his adventure, or would she be the same compassionate forgiving Rose Tyler and ended up being friend with Sarah Jane. Probably would be the last one, no matter how angry she would be but Rose would forgive him, and no matter how jealous she could be, there would be a realization from her how ridiculous they were now on fighting for some bloke and ended up being friend. He forced himself to looked away, and gave a bitter sad smile, if only she was here.

"Mr. Smith?" Sam voiced, shook him from his thought.

Mickey looked down, "Yeah, sorry. I just," he took a deep breath and turned his attention to the chip lady. "How much is it?"

"Two quid, love." the woman who'd taken his order told him as she held out her free hand, and Mickey dropped the correct coinage into her hand before taking the chips from her, signalling Sam to follow him.

"Why can't we join them?" Sam asked, clearly curious about his nature on avoiding them both.

"We can, but maybe not." Mickey said with raised eyebrows, before glancing at the Doctor and Sarah Jane. "They looked busy, and I know you're some kind of science and math genius but I won't understand a word they would say. Besides, we have our chips and I thought we could have our own little party here."

"Alright. But I don't think I'll be eating some chips" Sam told him as he sat on the higher chair. He grumbled lowly. "Had enough of that at school anyway."

"Can't argue with that one," Mickey mumbled, agreeing with him as they sat down. He popped one of the chips to his mouth. "So, how do you know the Doctor?"

"Well, Mr. Smith-"

"Alright, mate. I'm gonna stop you right there," Mickey interrupted. "Considering now you know I'm not actually a real teacher, and not to mention I am not that old, you can just call me Mickey."

"Okay then Mickey," Sam said to him, grinning.

"That's better!" Mickey said. He leaned on the table slightly. "Now, wanna tell me how do you know the big boss?"

"Sort of met him at Christmas, he was sort of hurt and delirious a bit," Sam started, "So I drag him inside my house, and the next thing I know was there's these killer robots dressed up and Santa Claus targeting him."

"You drag an unknown stranger inside your house," Mickey questioned his decision.

"Yeah, I sort of think that was a bit stupid of me to do that," he mumbled.

Mickey chuckled. "A bit yeah, stupid and brave you are," he told him as he frowned. "Wait, Christmas. Are you telling me that you're there, when there's this huge alien spaceship come to Earth and take control of the people?"

"I guess so," Sam told him. "It was an accident of course; I wasn't planning on suddenly being beamed up on some alien spaceship."

"Blimey," Mickey huffed as he scratches his head. "I suppose after that adventure, the big boss just asked you to travel with him?"

"Yep." Sam said, he then looked at him. "What about you? How do you know about the Doctor?"

"Met him about a year ago, me and my best mate were helping him with this kind of living plastic thing," Mickey told him. "More like my mate helping him, I was sort of cowardly scatter around screamin' my head off."

"Your friend?" Sam asked.

"He asked her to travel with him, and at first she declined," Mickey said, with a small smile. "But then he came back, ask her again and of course she took it. Time travel and adventure of a life time. It was all fun and game for her, all the new people and adventures she always told me, until of course." He stopped, clenched his jaw and closed his eyes briefly as he took a deep breath.

"Mickey?"

"Here's some advice, be careful with the big boss. He might act as if he's the greatest man in the world but he's dangerous." Mickey warned him. His toned suddenly changed as he leaned in further, trying to be not heard by the Doctor. "Trust me, had a few experience with him about that, and a few regrets too. Working with UNIT has also confirmed my suspicious, if only I could warn-" He cut off then smiled wisely. "Well, I don't think she would listen to me anyway."

"Do you mean your friend Rose?" Sam asked.

Mickey stiffened. "So he did at least mention her then?" he asked bitterly.

"Not really," Sam told him. "When he was sick, he talked in his sleep and mention her name a lot. Was she his wife?"

"As if he got the guts to tell her how he felt about her."

"What?"

"It's complicated." Mickey told him. He looked down, his tone changed. "Did he tell you what happened to her?"

"No."

Mickey snorted. "Of course, always the coward him."

"I'm sorry, but what happened to her?"

His next words that come out from his mouth, was not something Sam expected the Doctor would do.

0o0

"I thought of you on Christmas Day," Sarah Jane told him as he worked on K-9. "This Christmas just gone? Great big spaceship overhead. I thought, 'Oh yeah. Bet he's up there.'"

"Right on top of it yeah," the Doctor agreed as he fiddled with a few of K-9's wires.

"Alone?" Sarah Jane asked probingly, even as her voice quieted cautiously, not sure if she really wanted to hear the answer.

"Harriet Jones and half of her cabinet was there," the Doctor told her. He then glanced over at the table Sam and Mickey were sitting at with a small smile. "Sam was too." He looked towards Sarah Jane, who gave her a concerned looked. "Not on purpose of course, it was an accident and I was just recently regenerated and they sort of beamed my TARDIS inside the ship with unconscious me and him."

"He didn't cry nor scared up there?" Sarah Jane frowned.

"Nope, pretty much the opposite," the Doctor smiled wistfully, feeling weirdly proud as if he was a parents showing off his children to the other parents. "He's brilliant Sarah, helps me out a lot in sticky situation, even helps a Star Whale and the whole human civilization in day one."

"Are you sure it was wise to bring him along?" Sarah asked. "Don't get me wrong, I travel with you a lot but I know it could be dangerous."

His smiled changed as it falters slightly, he wanted to tell her that's why he takes him back but part of him also wanted to argue that he needs someone to travel with him, got some promise to fulfil. Yet she was right, of course she was, her Sarah would always be right. He only gave her a sad smile as he fiddled back to work.

Sarah Jane watched him with sad eyes as he looked back down at the wires he was working on, his brow furrowed now. She glanced over at the table he'd been looking in and taking the situation over there briefly before he turned back to the Doctor, her eyes still sad as her heart ached in her chest, feeling of jealous, anger, and sadness mixed into one.

"Did I do something wrong?" Sarah Jane asked and the Doctor stopped fiddling, looked up at her. "Because you never came back for me. You just dumped me."

"I told you," the Doctor mumbled. "I was called back home and in those days, humans weren't allowed."

"I waited for you," Sarah Jane accused. "I missed you." She admitted, her tone softer, sadder.

The Doctor dropped his hands away from K-9, staring off into the distance. "You don't need me; you were getting on with your life." He tried to lift the tension with a grin but Sarah Jane wasn't having it.

"You were my life." She said flatly, and the Doctor paused again to look at her. "You know what the most difficult thing was?" Sarah Jane asked. "Coping with what happens next, or with what doesn't happen next," she continued, finally letting it all out. "You took me to the furthest reaches of the galaxy, you showed me supernovas, intergalactic battles, and then you just dropped me back on Earth." She paused, staring at him in accusation. "How could anything compare to that?"

"All those thing you saw, do you want me to apologise for that?" the Doctor asked, frowning, feeling a little offended.

"No," Sarah Jane answered before saying bitterly, "But we get a taste of that splendour and then we have to go back."

"But look at you, you're investigating," the Doctor tried to comfort her, smiling. "You found that school. You're doing what we always did."

"You could have come back," she retorted back.

The Doctor face dropped. "I couldn't." he said, a darker look on his face.

"Why not?" Sarah Jane demanded, and the Doctor's gaze dropped. He didn't answer, going back to fixing K-9 with an expression of mixed despair and anger on his face. Sarah Jane got the hint, and she changed subject.

"It wasn't Croydon. Where you dropped me off, that wasn't Croydon." Sarah Jane stated, and the Doctor looked at her.

"Where was it?"

"Aberdeen."

The Doctor raised his eyes in realization. "Right." he glanced away as he paused in thought, before looking over at her again, "That's next to Croydon, isn't it?"

Sarah Jane had to smile as she shook her head in amusement, the Doctor buzzed his sonic screwdriver again. There was a whirring sound from the robotic dog a second before he sprang to life.

"Oh, hey. Now we're in business," the Doctor cried. He leapt to his feet as Mickey and Sam looked over at them.

'Master' K-9 answered.

"He recognizes me." the Doctor said gleefully.

'Affirmative.' K-9 replied.

"Sam, give us the oil," he said excitedly, holding out a hand for it.

Sam dug his pocket and pulled out the jar of yellow oil, that made Mickey alarmed as the memory of early day suddenly come to him.

"I wouldn't touch it," Mickey warned them. He looked anxiously at the jar as the alien unscrewed the cap. "That dinner lady got all scorched."

"I'm no dinner lady," the Doctor replied. He then stopped and looked at them before adding, "And I don't often say that." He plunged a finger in, and an antenna stuck out of K-9. He smeared the oil onto what looked like a plunger at the end, and it withdrew back into the robot.

"Here we go," he murmured as he crossed his arms over his chest as he waited expectantly. "Come on, boy. Here we go."

A beep sounded from K-9 and lights flashed as it registered the substance. Sam shifted a little so that he could see a little better from where he was standing, having to peer around the Doctor a bit, his green hazel eyes wide with awe and curiosity.

"Oil! Ex-ex-ex-extract, an-an-an-analysing…" K-9 announced with difficulty.

"Listen to it, man! That's a voice!" Mickey chortled lightly. He grinned amused.

"Careful!" Sarah Jane pointed a finger at him warningly.

The Doctor gave Mickey a look as the robot piped up, 'Confirmation of analysis. Substance is Krillitane Oil.'

"They're Krillitane."

"Is that bad?" Sam asked.

The Doctor nodded. "Very." He said softly. "Think of how bad things could possibly be, and add another suitcase full of bad."

"Well, isn't that cheery," Mickey retorted.

"What are Krillitanes?" Sarah Jane asked.

"They're a composite race." the Doctor explained, talking fast and faster. "Just like your culture is mixture of traditions from all sorts of countries, people you've invaded or have been invaded by. You've got bits of Viking, bits of France, bits of whatever. The Krillitanes are the same." He slowed down, looking them each in the eyes.

"An amalgam of races they've conquered. But they take physical aspects as well. They cheery pick the best bits from the people they have destroyed." He pauses as he gazed down at K-9 before he looked at them. "That's why I didn't recognize them. That last time I saw Krillitanes, they looked just like us expect they had really long necks."

"Like giraffes?" Sam asked, wondering what kind of 'mix-up' could possibly make giraffe-humans turn into giant bats.

"You're not wrong there, although it's a bit horrifying than giraffes," the Doctor told him. He stopped for a second as he continued. "Think of a giraffes mix a bit with Lion, and then also add a bit of gills from a fish."

"Now they looked like giant bats who disguise themselves as teachers," Mickey said, in disbelief.

"What are they doing here?" Sarah Jane asked.

"Exactly, Sarah Jane. Brilliant. School. Aliens disguised as teachers. Children getting exceptional grades." the Doctor paced around the room, an intent concentration burning within his eyes. "Mandatory lunch and chips. Chips fried in Krillitane Oil. Oh. Oh! Of course. No-"

He looked down to Sam, looking more horrified than ever.

"It's the children. They're doing something to the children," Sarah Jane finished, sounds horrified.

The Doctor crouched down to the boy level, produced his sonic and scanned Sam, hoping he was wrong. They all looked over at the boy, as he looked at them confused. His jaw clenched as his gaze turned dark, gaining a dangerous looked when he saw the result of the scan, making Sam a bit uneasy. Sarah Jane and Mickey Smith knew that looked and understood what's happening to him, they can only have looked at the Doctor and what's he was going to do.

"We're going to need the TARDIS now," the Doctor told them. He looked at the boy concerned. "I need to fully scan him, making sure he's fine, not affected by the oil."

"What's going?" Sam asked him.

"Nothing's going on, and you'll be alright." the Doctor said, he placed both of his hand on his shoulder and looked at him straight in the eyes. "I promise."

"Please don't lie to me."

"I'm not." the Doctor forced a smile, slowly withdraw his hands from him as he clearly still shocked by his response. "Go with Sarah Jane and help her with moving K-9, I'll catch up with you later."

He slowly pushed Sam towards Sarah Jane as he gave her a knowing looked and went outside with K-9 in their arm, looking the boy from behind, clearly worried about what's going to happened. How can he that dense, he tasted the chips earlier, eating it earlier, and shouldn't his famous Time Lord biology pick up something wrong with them.

"He's going to be alright boss," Mickey told him, trying to ease the tension. "We've been eating that chips too, and we're fine."

He nodded.

"That oil was on the chips- why're they feeding their oil to everyone?" Mickey asked, confused, clearing the Doctor from his thought.

"I don't know yet," the Doctor admitted. "But we're going to find out."


	36. Then He is Right

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Quest of anger and guilt continued.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything Doctor Who except my OC's. I've tried abducted her and are trying to get her to sign herself over, but so far all we're getting is some custard biscuit and jelly babies.
> 
> A/N: The last chapter 36, I wasn't quite happy with it so I edited it and change a lot of it, with hope probably it's a bit better. It's an obvious reason how this chapter is a bit harder to write and I do hope the changes give a bit boost and not be bored because this is really a bit too much and too long. I still hated this chapter, because I gamble a lot in this one and I am honestly a bit scared on the whole change, so I hoped that it is fine. Seriously, I'm a bit scared for this chapter but I guess sometimes you gotta face your fear :)
> 
> Like the same on the last chapter.
> 
> There's some of the dialogue come from my favorite Doctor Who books.
> 
> I don't know about you guys, soo!
> 
> Onto the story!

Sam Piper walked out slowly with Sarah Jane trying and carefully putting back K-9 into her car, he tried not to think about whatever is the effect that weird chips he's been eating his entire school life going to do to him, he really tried. But the look the Doctor gave him, didn't give him any reassurance at all. He looked back towards the chips shop and saw the Doctor and Mickey strode out, those two close enough to be within earshot but also far enough to not be noticed. His looked didn't change, although it softens a bit but the familiar dangerous looked didn't change, which made him become more uneasy, feeling something dangerous was happening to him.

"You alright?" Sarah Jane asked.

He merely nodded, although Sarah Jane didn't look convinced.

"So how did you get K-9?" Sam asked as he helped Sarah Jane slide back K-9 back into the boot.

"He belongs to the Doctor, he loves to travel with an entourage," Sarah Jane explained. "Sometimes they're humans, sometimes they're aliens, and sometimes they're the tin dogs."

"Huh. Is that mean I could be the tin dog?" Sam asked her.

Sarah Jane patted him as she smiled with amusement. "You're not Sam, I like to think that man Mickey Smith is the tin dog. He's their man in Havana, technical support, so made him the tin dog."

"I guess so."

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing. It's just-" Sam sighed, and rubbed his temple. His head suddenly throbbing as the words that were told by the man still echoed to him. "It's nothing."

Sarah Jane looked at her completely not convince there's something the boy was not telling her, nor telling the Doctor in that matter. Of course he probably scared, whatever that Krillitane oil do, it's now going to affect him, and he's scared. She gave him a small smiled and brushed the boy back gently, trying to comfort him.

0o0

The Doctor pushed open the chip's shop door and stepped out into the night air, a sense of relief filling him at having managed to escape the chips shops and it surely followed with a dread filling him, all the problem going on towards him, filling his head was not helping him thinking of what to do next. It was helping at all when Mr. Rickey Smith pushed through the door next and moving after him with an obvious question he didn't want to even answer.

"How many of us have there been traveling with you?" Mickey demanded to know.

"Shouldn't UNIT has all the records?" the Doctor retorted still walking, carrying the hope that he could still escape the conversation Mickey evidently wanted to have.

"Yeah it does," Mickey insisted stubbornly, "How many did you leave like Sarah Jane? Or even died like Rose?"

The Doctor paused in his stride and spun to face him. "You're playing a dangerous game Mickey Smith."

"Dangerous? You're the one who are gambling on dangerous decision here," Mickey retorted. He had enough of this arrogant sod. "Sam would just be the latest in a long line of your latest companion, and you left him here. Is that what you're going to do to him? Oh, wait, you did. Probably that's why you accepted my help, you want to what? Apologize, trying to get him back travel with you?"

"No, that's not why I want to help you and you know this!" the Doctor denied instantly. "And the reason why I take him back is none of your business, meeting him today was just a little something that was unexpected."

"Oh that's rich comin' from you." Mickey sneered. "What's the reason then? Got a bit bored with him, just like Sarah Jane."

"Because if I kept on traveling with him, I will take away his innocent and childhood," the Doctor snapped in anger. "Is that the answer you're looking for Agent Smith?"

"You finally come to your senses then. That's great." Mickey responded sarcastically. "Why didn't you realize that when you travel with Rose?"

"Mickey." the Doctor warned.

"What I don't understand is," Mickey continued, his arms over his chest as he continued to glare at him. "You were that close to Sarah Jane once, but you left her, and now you don't even mention her, as if she was just another person who travelled with you. Why did you never mention her?"

"I don't age." the Doctor explained, his lip quivering. "I regenerate. But humans decay." He swallowed, his eyes held prepressed tears of his own. "You wither and you died. Imagine watching that happen to someone who you-" He broke off abruptly, unable to finish his sentence.

"Love, Doctor?" Mickey asked.

He stilled, and glanced over at Sam and Sarah Jane who was talking amicably. He swallowed, tearing his gaze away, trying to signalled Mickey to stopped.

"She was always too good for me," Mickey said suddenly, "Didn't deserve her, I didn't know there was something better out there and she'd realize it in the end. I just had to make the most of every day I got. I mean, I was angry when she went off with you. Angry with you, but angry with her too, angry that she'd seen through me at last. Realized I was a loser and she was a winner. But I didn't mind, not in the end. Because she deserved more than me. She deserved someone who could giver he the whole universe." The sorrow in his voice turned anger. "But you got her killed.

"I know." the Doctor said, and it was as if hating himself wasn't enough.

"You got her killed and I'll never see her again! Jackie will never see her again! She thought she wanted danger and excitement-but you could have stopped her! She wasn't a-a Time Lord, she was just an ordinary girl and you got her killed."

"Rose wasn't ordinary," the Doctor said. He stopped sounding angry at himself, directed it at Mickey instead. "What was I supposed to do? Wrap her in cotton wool? Tell her 'Here, I could give you the universe, but I'm not going to in case you get hurt? There's all this stuff out there, all these planets, all these wonders, but I want you to stay at home and work in a shop?"

Mickey grabbed his shirt and yelled. "You should have taken better care of her!"

The Doctor shouted back. "I know! Do you really think there are no days where I wonder if I could do something about her? To save her life." He pushed him away clearly furious. "You think I never thought of her every single day of my life." His hands tightened to a fists, as his heart clenched in his chest. "Because this is what happens Agent Smith, I never forget about her, never forget those who I lost, as they all screaming in my head. If I could save them all I would but I can't, I wish I could but I can't. I just can't! Do you want to know why? Because that's my curse, my curse after I murdered them all, ruin them all. Curse of a lonely Time Lord!"

Before Mickey could respond, there was a loud shrill screech came from the roof top, distracting the two from their conversation and catching the attention of the two that were by Sarah Jane's car.

"Time Lord!" Mr. Finch hissed.

The Krillitane on the roof screeched and swooped through the air, diving towards them, and Sarah Jane gasped as the beast swooped down at them. She ducked as pulling Sam down, and they all ducked as it simply swept above them, flying off into the night with another angry screech. They all stared after it, relieved and curious on what's going on.

"Was that a Krillitane?" Sarah Jane asked as the two hurried over to Mickey and the Doctor.

"But it didn't even touch them?" Mickey said, confused. "It just flew off. What did it do that for?" He asked, clearly surprised that it hadn't made more of an effort to harm them as they all watched it fly off.

"Someone's sending a message," the Doctor said darkly.

0o0

Sarah Jane Smith attic was the largest room in the house, and served as her home office and clearly base of operations. Several photographs hung there; among were her pictures of her youth and adventure such as her picture with the cape Doctor, and the long scarf Doctor with Harry, the Brigadier, and Benton. There were many bookcases in the house, as Sarah was an avid reader and loved to collect books; it also contained a telescope and a chair for stargazing.

In the attic, of course there were a lot of alien objects or knick-knacks of her adventure. Some of them were gifts, others Sarah Jane kept safe from aliens who wanted to use them to take over Earth, and the Doctor would recognize lots of them from their time together. On the desk, Sarah Jane document, papers are works stack there with her computer nearby. Those are the things the Doctor observed as he was waiting the result of Sam's blood check. He saw the boy curled up on the sofa fast asleep with the blanket that was given by Sarah; he walked over and brushed a hair of the boy softly, thinking it was a long night and he must be tired until he looked up and saw his former companion gave him a small knowing smile.

"What?" the Doctor asked.

"Never saw you behave this way before." Sarah Jane replied.

"Behave what way?"

Sarah Jane only shrugged.

Before the Doctor could responded even further, the machine beeped noticing Sam's blood sample are done being checked on. He walked over the machine and put on his glasses as he read over the computer for the result. His prediction was right; Sam's blood level has a strong amount of Krillitane's oil, he looked over the sleeping boy and the result as his jaw clenched. But there's something that bother him, if this the amount of oil were inside Sam's, then why would he didn't get sick such as the other student. He needed to wake the boy again.

"Doctor, what's wrong?" Sarah Jane asked, as she saw him walked over to the sofa.

"I need to wake him up, there's something not right," the Doctor told them. He walked over and shake the boy lightly. "Sam, wake up. I need to check something." He whispered to him.

"Huh?" the boy woke up groggily, clearly still tired.

"I'm sorry, but I need to check on something," the Doctor told him, as he tried to sat the boy up facing him while he grabbed the sonic from his pocket. He pointed it directly at the boy as Sam tried to bat it away, clearly bothered by the sound. "I know, you're tired. But I'll just be quick. There!" He stopped to see the result.

"Well?"

"Same with the result, his blood full of Krillitane's oil but I don't understand," the Doctor said. He glanced towards the boy. "He should've be sick. Really sick."

"Just like other children." Sarah Jane piped in. "But how was he not sick?"

"Extra class." Mickey Smith suddenly said, making the two of them turned their heads to him. He walked inside the attic. "Sam Piper weren't list in the special extra class Finch created when he became principal."

Sarah Jane grabbed over one of the paper files and looked at Mickey. "He's right. How do you know about this?"

"I've been a teacher there for a few months and the teacher would always have talked about him being one of the clever student who was not on the special class," Mickey told them. He folded his arms. "They also said the student who joined and being kicked the extra class would have looked tired and drowsy, the next day they would be sick."

"We need to get back inside that school tomorrow," the Doctor announced as he ruffled his hair and looked at them. "I need to see whatever that extra class doing, there's possibility it connected with the oil they feed in the children."

"What, you're gonna meet up with Mr. Finch or somethin'?" Mickey asked him.

"Well, we met his friends, why not them all?" the Doctor shrugged as he told them. He gave them a huge grin.

0o0

The Doctor stepped out into the cool evening. The night breeze carried the scent of roses from the next door, car exhaust from the street, the peculiar tang that precluded an English rain. Glancing over his shoulder, he watched lights in two of the upstairs rooms go out. Everyone safe and sound in bed. Mickey had nearly been dragged upstairs by Sarah Jane, as he insisted to go home in the middle of the night with works reasons related. A small smile flickered across the Doctor's lips, it had been good of Sarah Jane to offer him a room for the night, but he had slept for three hours the night before, and at the moment he wasn't remotely tired.

Hands in his trouser pockets, the Doctor strolled into his friend's small garden, glancing up at the sky. The bright moon hung above, tipping three branches and rooftops in silver. Orion was out, and if he squinted he could just make out the off blue colour of a nebulae in the old fellow's sword, twinkling just like another star from this vantage point. In just a bit, Andromeda was going to come into view. He'd have to find a decent seat to watch it from.

"Don't you ever get bored watching the stars?" Sarah Jane voice greeted him.

He turned around and smiled. "Never. Parts of the deal of travelling the universe, seeing the stars. Parts of the good thing too," he muttered the last one as he cast his head towards the sky again.

Sarah Jane looked at him and smiled. She sighed and stretched a bit. "Well, if you're planning to stay here, I'll better put on the kettle. It's a bit cold tonight, and I thought you'll enjoy a cuppa?"

"Yes please," the Doctor glanced at her. "Er… anything I can lend a hand with? Maybe? Possibly?" His eyes were large and hopeful.

"It's only a tea, I don't think I would need any help," Sarah Jane told him. She saw him fidgeted a bit. "But if you want, I'll be happy to have your help."

The Doctor's face brightened. "Right! Your wish is my command."

Sarah Jane stifled a chuckled. "You never would have said that in your other body. In fact, I don't think you would do any of this in your other body."

"Ah, well, I grew out of being pompous. No real point in it, is there?" the Doctor shrugged as he told her. He walked over and closed the door, not wanting to let the cold wind get inside the house as he continued, "I know how good I am, I don't need to go acting high and mighty about it."

They made their way inside the kitchen, Sarah Jane went straight to the kettle and setting it up. Pouring water inside as the Doctor helped her by looking around, scanning for tea from the upper cupboard and searching for the tea that would fit their mood this evening. He grabbed the Earl Grey, locking it as it final decision and placed it down table.

For a moment, they worked in companionable silence.

"Sarah?"

"Yes?"

"How'd you like your life so far?" the Doctor asked. "You know, after your days traveling with me."

She glanced back at him, eyebrows rising. "Why do you ask? Is it because what I said earlier, it's nothing Doctor, I'm just-"

"No!" the Doctor stopped her. "It's just me asking. I mean, how do you like your job? You doing well with it? Any bad college or annoying partner?"

She considered a moment, her adventure with the Doctor was brilliantly amazing but after that, her life so far was surprisingly still brilliantly amazing and quite challenging too for women her age. She's been investigating stories that other journalist would like to avoided, still sticking her nose where she wasn't suppose too, and of course saving people in the process. Her life was just fine, with or without the Doctor. Now she felt a bit rubbish after what she said to him earlier in the chip shop; but guess it would be natural to miss this daft man, especially with all the trouble magnet he is, and the worried thought of one day she would never see him again.

In the final moment, she gave him a genuine smile. "I've been doing great Doctor, just like you said I would. Still investigating, still being nosy me and pocking things where I shouldn't, and still having adventures." Sarah told him.

"That's brilliant, it's just you were great with the investigation and can even talk with Sam. What do you think of him? the Doctor asked. He shuffled awkwardly.

"He's brilliant, clever and quite curious. He knows I'm not here for just interviewing the principal the moment I talked to him." Sarah Jane told him. She frowned at him. "What brought this out?"

"Oh, it's just-"

"Are you worried about him?"

"Maybe. Possibly. Oh, who am I kidding. Yes, quite worried." the Doctor ran his fingers through his hair, sighing. "When I travel with him, every ruled I ever have and every experience I have had just got thrown out of the window." He turned away, talking as he grabbed some milk from the fridge. "He's quite bright, quick, so clever, yet he's just a child. He's just a child with such innocent that it scares me." He dropped the milk on the counter with an audible 'thunk'.

Sarah Jane smiled. "Sounds like every people you met then."

"Every companion I had can take care of themselves, they're a grown adult; some even warriors and aliens. In the first sign of trouble, I trust them to get out of trouble on themselves, and can well and care from themselves if they go sauntering off; they have had their shared of cruel reality." the Doctor told her. His voice sounded scared, quicken as he continued. "But he is untouched innocent child and, I tend to worried, it become even worse when every single place we go there's always trouble and he would always be in danger, and I want him safe, but I can't be sure to keep him that way." He sighed and ruffled his hair nervously. "Sometimes I think he's a bit of a burden, and it was a mistake to take him with me."

"Is that what you felt about us? We're all your regret." Sarah Jane pointed out. "Because I assured you Doctor, when we travel with you, it's based on our choices and if-"

"No, Sarah I know, it's I-" the Doctor glanced down, closing his eyes, his voiced grim. "The last person who travelled with me, it didn't end well. It never ends well and guess I was scared, that Sam would bare the same faith with-" He stopped, can't seem to finished that sentence, can't even said her name.

Sarah Jane sighed and shot the Time Lord a look. "For a brilliant man, Doctor, at times you can be uncommonly lacking in intelligence. Pull out a few teacups. That cupboard, on your left."

The Doctor frowned, opening the cupboard. "All right, what do you see from your point of view, then?"

"That something's bothering him. From what I see, Sam's hurt, and keeping it to himself. I don't know what happened between you two or how did it go when you dropped him off back home. He's confused, yet he's trying to covering it up." Sarah Jane told her. She pours a tea in one of the mug and glanced at him, "I'm surprised you haven't noticed. You'd pick that up better than I."

"In some ways," the Doctor said as he tugged his ears. "Sam hasn't been easy to read. I can't see anything from his expression, and he's a bloody good of an actor, unless I do a bit of prying which can either go brilliantly or worse."

"But don't you see it in the way he moves? The way he interacts with you?" Sarah Jane asked. "Did anything even slightly bothering you?"

The Doctor shrugged. "All he lets me see is how happy he is traveling with me. Even when I told him that it's time for him to go back home, he didn't even fuss." He set down two of the teacups, and glanced down studying the pattern of the china in his hands. "He didn't even put up a fight."

Sarah Jane took the cup, glancing up at him. His eyes, now that she got a good look at them, seemed so much older than she remembered.

"Then look closer Doctor. Because you're missing something."

0o0

Sam hit the ground with a solid thud. He sat up, sobbing and kicking at the heavy blankets that was restricting his movement. All he can felt was a pair of familiar feeling of hands grabbing his neck and that made him can't breathe. He closes his eyes as he felt tears sting his eyes, heart pounding so fast he feared they would burst through his chest. He tries to take a deep breath, trying to calm himself but it's stuck in his throat, and he can't help letting out a broken sob; clutching to his chest, he felt his air way tighten and quickly try to searched his jacket.

Looking around the room, he spotted his jacket near one of the chair in the room; trying to get up, he stumbles as his bare feet hits the floor. In one quick movement, he grabbed his jacket and searched for his inhaler inside his pocket and quickly pressed down the top button, breathing in the air that was released. Instantly, he felt quite better and sat up straight; feeling a shiver of the side effect from the inhaler progress through his body.

Sam swallowed the sobs threatening to spill over the surface, he tried to decide whether he should get back to bed but the fear of having the same nightmare made him not that eager going back. Silently, he crept across the rest of the room and pulled open the bedroom door, to reveal the darkness of the night outside. He began tiptoe downstairs, clutching the bannister and slowly made his way downstairs.

He then spotted the kitchen light were turned on and there was shadows inside while there's two familiar voice that belong to Sarah Jane and the Doctor, probably chatting for lost time and exchanging stories, he even heard the kettle of being boiled. For a moment he almost turned away not wanting to bothered them, until he heard words the he was familiar with that spoken by the figure he familiar with.

"Sometimes I think he's a bit of a burden, and it was a mistake to take him with me."

Oh.

Of course.

Clutching his left arm harshly, he carefully got back to his room and closed the door quietly as he made his way to the bed. Memories of people telling him the same words came back to him as he sat up and stared blankly at the ceiling. In all his time growing up, he would change houses quite often; there would either an issue where the family would think they can't take care of him anymore, or just plain reject him.

He tried of course, he tried so hard to be a good boy, to be not seen nor heard, having good grades, behave great, and never talk back to the adults who would take care of him. But the case would always the same, some of them would just plain harsh and treated him poorly, and others would treat him better but then reject him behind his back and think it's better to hide it from him and yet he ended up know about it. For some reasons, no matter how he would be treated, the result would be the same; he doesn't belong there, he's just an outsider who was bothering them in their peace.

Guess he could add an alien from out of space in his list of people who confirmed.

He's just a mistake.


	37. Let the Lesson Begin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything that has connection to Doctor Who, except for the original character. I tried to steal those rights from the BBC but then it ended with me being sued. So yeah.
> 
> A/N: For once in my life, I am know sounds like the Tenth Doctor. Because I said sorry a lot; no really I am sorry for updating this chapter a bit late and long. Of course I have a good reason, I'm in my final uni and I might need focus in a lot of uni thing that I seems to ignored and now it's bitting myself in my biggest muscle. This of course does not mean I would stop writing, I've got a lot to planned out that I would not stopping this story. Although being a bit slow in update probably would...
> 
> Again, I am really sorry. And I do hope you people still would enjoy this story as far as I am writing it.
> 
> Also! Is it too late for saying happy new year now, because I forgot. So, happy new year? I bet you're going to have a really great year!
> 
> Thank you for your patience.
> 
> Onto the story!

Morning came, and with the miracle of Mickey Smith all of the sudden Sam Piper were ready with his uniform and school's book. He asked him how he did it but he just said it was the speciality of being a special agent but the Doctor of course piped in and said that such thing doesn't exist making both of them glaring at each other while Sarah Jane only shook her head preparing breakfast.

In the end, Sarah Jane drove them back to school, and they were just in time as the bell rang. Students who were just arrived, hurried towards the school building. The Doctor looking at the building menacingly, didn't know what's going to happened next after their little adventures last night, finally he turned towards them getting ready for whatever going to happened next inside the school.

"Sarah Jane and Sam, you go to the Maths room. Crack open those computers, I need to see the hardware inside and try to avoided the teachers or staff," the Doctor ordered. He pulled his sonic screwdriver from his jacket pocket, "Here, you might need this." He handed it to Sarah Jane who was on his right as he turned to Sam. "Mickey, tell your team to try and evacuate the teachers, staff, and student as fast as many as possible and try be stealth about it, don't let the others know we don't want to raise any suspicion. Besides, I have a feeling they don't keep them just to be kind." He finished.

Mickey nodded, and hurried inside the school with phone in his hand.

"What about K-9?" Sam asked. He pointed at the metal dog sitting in the front sit.

"K-9 going to be here for a while, guarding the situation, be our back up" the Doctor replied. "Besides, we can't bring it inside it would cost people to be suspicious, isn't that right K-9?"

"Affirmative."

"What're you going to do?" Sarah Jane asked him.

"It's time I had a word with Mr. Finch." He answered darkly.

0o0

Mr. Finch doing his usual daily routine with the sense of excitement, knowing there is a Time Lord here would proceed his plan faster than he would have expected. He felt eyes on him and looked up, his gazes landed on the Time Lord that had infiltrated his school. Their gazes clashed, and Finches eyes hardened before turned into a small smirk as he turned his gaze away, proceed on walking to a quite private place, clearly expecting the Time Lord to followed him.

The Doctor stared coldly after the disguised Krillitane for a moment, clearly unfazed on his challenging glared as he continued on his way before he carried on up the staircase. He opened the door to the swimming pool and stepped inside immediately, seeing Mr. Finch standing on the opposite end of the pool; smirking towards him.

"Who are you?" the Doctor asked as he came to a stop.

"My name is Brother Lassa," Mr. Finch responded, "And you?"

"The Doctor," the Time Lord replied, tone cold and flat, "Since when did Krillitanes have wings?"

Mr. Finch stared walking alongside the edge of the pool, approaching the Doctor slowly. His voice was confident and controlled. "It's been our form for nearly ten generations now. Our ancestors invaded Bessan. The people there had some rather lovely wings. They made a million widows in one day," he said in quite delight, "Just imagine."

He smiled as if that was a good thing. The Doctor felt disgusted, but he didn't let it show. Instead he started walking alongside the pool, keeping the distance between him and the Krillitane steady.

"And now, you're shaped human," he prompted.

Mr. Finch shrugged and tilted his head. "A personal favourite, that's all."

"And the others?"

"My brothers remain in bat form. What you see is a simple morphic illusion. Scratch the surface and the true Krillitane lies beneath," Mr. Finch replied as he started to slowly cross the distance between them, "And what of the Time Lords?" He asked as the Doctor started moving towards him, crossing the length of the pool, "I always thought of you as such a pompous race," he continued, "Ancient, dusty senators, so frightened of change and chaos. And of course, they're all but extinct. Only you. The last."

"This plan of yours, what is it?" the Doctor asked instead, refusing to let himself be baited into a reaction as he eyed the Krillitane.

The disguised Brother Lass arched a brow at the Time Lord, "You don't know," he murmured, surprised and smugly satisfied all at once. This has become more perfect.

"That's why I'm asking," the Doctor replied stiffly as they came to stop in front of each other, eyeing each other coldly.

"Well, show me how clever you are. Work it out," Mr. Finch challenged the Time Lord with a smirk, before he moved to turn away from their stand-off.

"If I don't like it, then it will stop," the Doctor warned and the Krillitane paused, turned back to face him.

"Fascinating," Mr. Finch murmured as he eyed the Time Lord contemplatively, "Your people were peaceful to the point of indolence. You seem to be something new," He mused, "Would you declare war on us, Doctor?" He asked, his eyes narrowed as he regarded the Time Lord closely for a moment. "Perhaps you would, if we play with children or perhaps your little friend?"

Big mistake. He eyed him up and down, as a predator would assess his prey with eyes dark full of the Oncoming Storm. "I'm so old now. I used to have so much mercy," he told him. Mr. Finch tensed, sensing the danger and darkness bubbling just beneath the surface. He backed away slowly, eyes still fixed on him. "You get one warning. That was it." With that subtle threat, the Doctor turned his back on Mr. Finch and left him.

"But we're not even enemies," Mr. Finch suddenly called out, causing him to turn back to him. "Soon you will embrace us. The next time we meet, you will join with me. I promise you," He insisted.

"You made your enemy the instant you threatened those children," the Doctor countered, exiting the pool room, and leaving the headmaster fuming.

0o0

Sam bit his lip as he peered out the computer labs door, watching to see if anyone was coming as he slowly closed the door. He watched Sarah Jane struggled with the sonic screwdriver and unable to get into the computer system as it won't turn on. Clearly the Doctor also changed a lot of settings from the screwdriver as he upgraded and it seemed to be a bit much a lot than the old screwdriver.

He walked over to one of the computer and tried to switch it on somehow so he could dig through it, since the principal change all of the computer in the labs also changed. Lots of them thought it was for the better, but it seemed the computer now can only be turned on by the teachers or students in the special class, and in the end erasing computer labs lessoned to public; some of the parent and students were confused and pretty upset about this, of course the principal didn't care about this.

Sarah Jane threw her hands up in the air and complained in a loud voice. "It's not working."

"Try press the button on the bottom at the same time as the one above that," Sam told her as he crouched down next to her. She did and finally the equipment started to make a familiar whirring noise with a flashed blue light.

"Used to work first time in my day," Sarah Jane mused. She changed her position as she still pointing the sonic screwdriver. "Guess everything's just a lot more complicated now."

"It is a bit." Sam agreed.

They turned into an uncomfortable awkward silence, with only the sounds of the sonic screwdriver filling the room. Sam fidget a bit, he didn't like only sitting around and doing nothing because there's always something he could do to help but there's exactly nothing he could do and that made him felt useless.

"You alright there?" Sarah Jane voiced startled him. He looked towards her, saw her was actually looking at him. "What's inside that head of yours then? Don't tell me you got bored spending time with me." She teased.

"No, not that but it is a bit boring," Sam replied, feeling uncertain.

"By the way, the Doctor told me last night that 'everyone died'," Sarah Jane pointed out. She folded her arms and looked at him. "Do you know what he meant by that?"

"Well…" Sam trailed off, feeling uncertain and tense whether he wanted to tell her about this, tell her the thing Mickey told him last night too. He paused before deciding that at least Sarah Jane had the right to know. "When I met him and he was faint in my sofa, he was mumbling things about the Dalek and war, also a name called Rose. Something bad probably happened to her, or happened to them."

"Oh Doctor," Sarah Jane whispered. "I've never imagined. No wonder he was so close off, and so hurt. I could see it in those big brown eyes, but I didn't know why." She paused a moment before she continued, "It has been a long time for him, right?"

"Yeah," Sam agreed, feeling something bitter melt down and disappear in his throat. Sarah Jane moved to be closer to him and leaned towards the table he was sat on, she put the sonic in her pockets followed with her hands.

She sighed. "He always been like this I guess, so closed off and never talk about what's bothering him. It's a bad habit and I thought he would open up more with his age and traveling but it only got worse."

"I think, after losing people you cared about, it's difficult to work up the courage again to be that opened to anyone," Sam told her. He gave her a faint smile as she can only look at him with wide eyes. "The Doctor's a really cool and all but he's still dealing with losing everyone, so I guess that's why he was so scared to be close again. Probably that's why he didn't want to go back and see his friends."

"When did you become so clever?" she asked as she nudged him playfully.

He shrugged.

Sarah Jane was smiling widely now. "Tell you what though," she changed the subject, "With you, did he does that thing where he'd explain something at ninety miles an hour, and then look at you like you've dribbled on your shirt when you didn't understand him?"

"All the time." Sam laughed.

"Does he still strokes bits of the TARDIS?"

"Yeah he does," Sam told her. His whole face lit up. "I thought at first it was a bit weird it was this regeneration thing, but then he does it so often. I know the TARDIS alive and all but it still a bit weird."

Sarah Jane began to laugh as Sam's shoulder's shook uncontrollably. The two of them all erupted into laughter, boding over the single subject they were so familiar with, that silly, tragic, wonderful, ancient Time Lord, who does a lot of questionable silly things that would be weird on Earth.

The two of them were still laughing when the Doctor strode into the IT room. He froze when he saw Sam and Sarah Jane were laughing hard. Part of him were glad to see Sam and Sarah Jane laughing along, and hearing the boy laughter made his anger ease a bit but he was still tense with his encounter.

"How's it going?" the Doctor asked, and they both simply laughed harder. "What? Listen, I need to find out what's programmed inside these."

They kept laughing hysterically, pointing at him but unable to form any word. The Doctor awkwardly rolled his eyes and rubbed at the back of his neck. Well yes, he was the Last of the Time Lords, the Oncoming Storm, the Nightmare of Monsters and everything, but honestly watching his companions settle into an insane fit of laughter and it was clear the laughter was pointing towards him made him fumed in embarrassment.

"What? Stop it!"

It took quite a long time for them to stop.

0o0

A buzzer sounded that made Sarah Jane and Sam managed to turn their attention as an announcement sounded over the speakers, 'All pupils to class immediately. And would all members of staff congregate in the staff room.'

"My teachers," Sam pointed out. He looked at them in horrors, knowing what would happen to them. "The Krillitanes will kill them."

"No they won't" Mickey Smith told the as he walked inside the room. "UNIT had them evacuated earlier, so you don't have to worry about it." He looked outside when he heard a footsteps going through their way.

"That was quick," Sarah Jane pointed out to him.

"Guess so, it's quite surprising that we could get them out in time before they even launched whatever they were planning," Mickey Smith said, as he folded his arms. He then stopped for a minute and heard footsteps going through their way. "Except for the students."

The Doctor made a growling noise of frustration. "Mickey, keep the kids out of here, direct them to the South Hall," he said, striding forward and taking the screwdriver from Sarah Jane. "I've got to get into these computers."

Mickey ran to the door, blocking students from entering. "No, no. This classroom's out of bounds." he told them. "You've all got to go to the South Hall. Off you go. South Hall!" He closed the door.

He ran back to the room and saw the Doctor pulled another handful of wiring out of the computer and added that to the wires not to mention cabling that were already hanging from his neck and about his shoulders. With that bit of wiring out of his way, the Doctor pulled the sonic screwdriver from between his teeth and ran it up and down to the back of the computer once again, before he frowned at it in displeasure.

"I can't shift it," he muttered.

"I thought the sonic screwdriver could open anything!" Sarah Jane exclaimed, clearly confused.

"Well, anything except a deadlock seal and wood too," Mickey shrugged. He folded his arms and looked at the alien. "Boss, you really should improve the settings."

"Oi! Sonic screwdriver is classic, I can manage with it perfectly fine," the Doctor pouted. He turned the computer and grabbed the screen. "There's got to be something inside here. What are they teaching those kids?" He muttered.

"Uh, Doctor?" Sam called, staring as all the screens switched on.

He looked up, pushing his brainy specks up to his nose and see everything glowing green as a cube of some kind spun on the left side of the screens, while bunch of rows and rows of unreadable green code ran at an incredibly fast rate on the right side. Sam watched as the large screen at the front of the classroom also lit up.

"You wanted the program?" Sarah Jane added and gestured towards the screens, "There it is."

The Doctor peered at the screens, and up at the large screen, frowning. "Some sort of code," he muttered, staring it a bit longer until he froze in horror, a terrible realization downing at him. "No. No, that can't be!"

"They can't be… what?" Sarah Jane prompted him quietly as she regarded him with wide worried eyes.

"The Skasis Paradigm" the Doctor whispered. "They're trying to crack the Skasis Paradigm." He stood in horror, staring at the screen.

"The Skasis what?" Mickey asked, confused.

"The God Maker," the Doctor explained, finally forcing himself to talked. "The universal theory. Crack that equation, and you've got control of the building blocks of the universe. Time and space, and matters, yours to control." He stared, his eyes wide with horror. If this what the Krillitanes looking for, there would be chaos and disaster in every single universe.

"That's amazing," the words blurted out of Mickey's mouth involuntarily. His eyes were strangely glazed as he crossed his arms. "Can you change your own past, then? It sure tempting."

"Don't even think about it, Mickey. It's terrible. No one's supposed to have that kind of power, and yet here they are, trying to crack the equation." the Doctor growled.

Sarah Jane stared at him, her own eyes wide with shock, "Is this mean the children are a giant computer?"

"Yes," the Doctor nodded, he started to pace as he began to put the pieces together, "And their learning power is being accelerated by the oil. The oil from the kitchens, it works as a… as a… conducting agent. Makes the kids cleverer."

"But that oils on the chips!" Mickey exclaimed, his eyes widening with horror, suddenly feeling a bit queasy. "I've been eating them."

Sarah Jane shrugged a little at him, before eyeing him curious, "Do you feel any smarter."

Mickey shook his head, "Not really."

"What's fifty-nine times thirty-five?" the Doctor questioned him suddenly.

"Two thousand, and sixty-five," Mickey replied without missing a beat and the Doctor raised his brows at him, "Oh, my God," He breathed wide-eyed.

"But why use children?" Sarah Jane asked. She clearly looked troubled about this. "Can't they use adults?"

"No, it's got to be children." the Doctor said, shaking his head and pacing. "The God-maker needs imagination to crack it. They're not just using the children's brains to break the code, they're using their souls."

"Let the lesson begin."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You are at the end of the story, and I promise I would try to update it as fast as I can.
> 
> But I am afraid if I do it quick, it would become sloppy and all. Considering I would write it faster than usual without editing or mind changing in the plot. Of course the uni stuff. I need to mention uni stuff because it is really important, but I do not like it so I ignore it all the time. Now it's really become a huge problem.
> 
> Anyway! Enough about this, I wanna say thank you all for your patience, and thank you for still sticking with this story. It means a lot.
> 
> Thank you for the favorite, follow, review.
> 
> Here's a huge virtual cookie!


	38. To Be or Not to Be a God

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything except my own original character. The rest would be own by the BBC.
> 
> A/N: We are almost at the end of the story! What's going to happened next? I honestly do not know, but I'm looking forward to it. Although it would be a bit longer to update as I am working on my thesis to get out of this hell hole first. It won't take that long, I'll slip in a few days just to write this, because if I spend my life to write this thesis than I would be burning myself out. Anyway, this is going to be a bit different, not drastically as you won't quite spot the different either.
> 
> I am babbling again.
> 
> Damn you Tenth Doctor effect.
> 
> Anyway, onto the story!

"Let the lesson begin,"

Mr. Finch's or Brother Lassa voice came from the back of the classroom as they instinctively turned back to see him had a sickly sweet smile on his face as he continued his advance. Clearly satisfied of the Doctor founding the Skasis Paradigm, in which he could proceed his next clear planned to use the Time Lord grief in the term of helping them cracking the code even faster. In the consideration how some those Earth children were a bit of a disappointment, some could be an exception of course.

"Think of it, Doctor," Finch continued. His voiced was hypnotic and had a dangerous edge to it. "With the Paradigm solved, reality becomes clay in our hands. We can shape the universe and improve it."

"Oh yeah? The whole of creation with the face of Mr. Finch?" the Doctor scoffed, glaring coldly at the disguised Krillitane, "Call me old fashioned, but I like things as they are."

"You act like such a radical," Mr. Finch said with a disappointed shake of his head, "And yet all you want to do is preserve the old order," He took a couple more steps towards the Doctor, "Think of the changes that could be made if this power was used for good."

"What, by someone like you?" the Doctor asked sceptically.

"No," Mr. Finch smiled, "Someone like you." The Doctor face turned emotionless as Mr. Finch continued softly, seductively. "That Paradigm gives us power, but you could give us wisdom. Become a God at my side. Imagine what you could do. Think of the civilizations you could save. Perganon, Assinta. Your own people Doctor, standing tall. The Time Lords reborn."

"Doctor, don't listen to him." Sarah Jane urged.

"And you could be with him throughout eternity," Mr. Finch turned to Sarah Jane, "Young, fresh," His gaze swept to where she was standing, before it turned to the Doctor again, "Never wither, never age, never die," and the Doctor tensed, his hearts beating a bit faster in his chest, "Their lives are so fleeting. So many goodbyes. How lonely you must be, Doctor. Join us."

"I could save everyone," the Doctor whispered. His thought jumbled around, flashed through him.  _Arcadia. Gallifrey. Time Lords. Time War. Burning._ "I could stop the war."

"Yes," Mr. Finch laughed.

_'Susan, Dodo, Katarina, Adric, Leela, Romana, Roz, C'rizz, Alex, Lucie, Rose. Rose. Rose. Rose. Daleks. He could stop the Daleks. He could save her. He could save her!_

"I could save her."

"No!" Sarah Jane roared, startling everyone in the room as she stepped forward to address the Doctor. "You can't change everything, Doctor. I know, I understand we all regret one thing or another, but you said it yourself. No one meant to have that kind of power." Her hands come through his face, cupping it firmly trying to find the lost Time Lord as she continued in a firm voice. "The universe has to move forward. Pain and loss, they define us as much as happiness or love. Whether it's the world, or a relationship, everything has it's time. And everything ends."

And that did it. His gaze turned forward where she was standing, and she gave him a glassy firm smile that meaning Sarah was right. Of course she was right, she's his brilliant amazing, Sarah Jane Smith and she would always have snapped him if he went off stray away, the same way she did in that moment where he almost killed them all.

"Sam?" Mickey asked, cautiously touching the boy's arm. He noticed how suddenly silent Sam had been, standing completely still, staring at the screen.

All of them whipped around to see the boy unmoving with blanked looked and focused on staring at the large screen as he had been since it had switched on. Of course, Sam was also eaten those chips, and he only realized that now, with guilt, how quite he had been, too quiet for his liking. Stupid, stupid, Time Lord. He should've noticed that.

"Ah, shame. You've noticed," Mr. Finch smirked as the Doctor glared at him. "He's clever, that one. I'd say he was most likely already close to genius, shame he never did join my class. If you didn't wanna help us, Time Lord than the boy would capable to, and with the help of the oil, well…" He chuckled as he turned to look at him. "I think we've found our winner."

Within a second, the anger and fury of the Oncoming Storm fully sheeted in him. With a strained cry, he rushed forward and grabbed a chair, thrust it forward-straight into the screen. There was a large crash as it shattered into pieces, and Sam, started finally tearing his gaze away.

"Out!" the Doctor shouted, and they ran out of the room. From afar, they could hear Finch cry out in fury, apparently he was summoning the others, which meant that they were in a big trouble now. He looked briefly behind and saw they roared and spread their wings, clinging at the walls towards them and that is the signalled for them to quicken their pace.

They burst into the canteen hall, immediately racing towards the doors on the other side of the hall only to find them locked. The Doctor reached into his pocket for his sonic screwdriver just as Mr. Finch stalked into the canteen and in instinct they all backed away as several of his undisguised friends followed him inside.

"Are those what they looked like?" Mickey asked, picking up a chair. He teared his gaze away from the creatures long enough to glance at the Doctor.

"Yeah!" the Doctor told him, picking up a chair too.

"We need the Doctor alive," Mr. Finch informed his brothers. His gaze met the Time Lord. "As the others, make their death painful." He ordered, his lips curving cruelly as the others screeched before they began to swoop towards them aggressively.

Both the Doctor and Mickey moved swiftly standing protectively creating a defence around Sam and Sarah Jane as they swing violently at the Krillitanes as the two of them ducked. Mickey ducked and turned out of the way of the extend claws of a Krillitane. He made a mental note to himself that he could've used the gun that UNIT provided him but he was quite occupied focusing on running and would make his aims a bit sloppy, also it would have slowed them down and it would not be a good thing. Not to mention Mr. Alien Pacifist would berate him even thou it would save his life. He only groaned and swung it out at one of them that swooped at him again, getting an angry screech, his fingers gripping the sides of the chair tightly.

The Doctor glanced over at him and couldn't help the small smirk that curled his lips at seeing Mickey Smith who he knows armed with a gun was using a chair of his own and swinging determinedly. At first, he figures that the man would be using his gun, but it was quite surprising he was using a chair; smiling amused he thought no matter how much he changed, he was still Rickey the idiot inside.

"Not a word boss!" Mickey told him, giving the chair he was swinging around a brief pointed look and then ducked the next swooping Krillitane, his eyes scanning the air waiting for the next swoop.

"Didn't say a word Agent Smith," the Doctor replied as he continued to swing the chair fending off the Krillitanes that were attempting to swopped down on Sam and Sarah Jane.

"You don't have to say it." Mickey began to protest. "Oh, whatever! Just hit the big bat people, will you!" He swung again, missed his timing, and had to quickly duck to avoid the claws that were coming for him, only for the Doctor to whack at it, forcing the Krillitane to swoop away with a shrill annoyed screech.

"Got you covered, Mickey," the Doctor assured him as he straightened breathing heavily.

He nodded gratefully, only for his eyes to widen at the Krillitane that he spotted coming at the Doctor's back. He lifted one hand from his chair and grasped him pulling him down, making the claws just miss the top of his head as Mickey breathed out a low sigh of relief; as much he hated the alien, letting him being harmed was not in his nature.

"Mickey looked out!" Sam warned him.

Mickey turned around and saw one of the Krillitane swooped at his way, screeching as it reared back and out of the way of the blow, before diving in again, its clawed hands and feet grasping the legs of the chair as it was swung at it again. It screeched loudly in Mickey's face before it began to flaps its wins and his eyes widened as he fought to keep his grasp on the chair and his feet on the ground as he felt himself began to be lifted from the ground.

"Not today creepy Bat People!" Mickey said. He angled back trying to keep his feet on the ground and pull the chair from its grip with all his might, not wanting to lose what little weapon he had. His hands slipped from the chair and he let out a grunted as he dropped to the ground.

The Krillitane flew higher across the ceiling before it tossed the chair away, it landed with a clatter and Mickey glanced about briefly, before he hurried towards another chair for a weapon. But he missed as the Krillitane lunged at him, tearing his arm and continued to screeched as it dived seeing an opening of their defence, claws extend to rake over Sarah Jane and Sam.

"Sarah Jane!" Mickey cried a horrified warning as he watched it with wide eyes, with the Krillitane closed their distance rapidly.

Sarah Jane, whose attention had already drawn by the screech, raised a new chair with one of her arms and snatched it up in front of them and held Sam protectively, bracing for the impact, only for a sudden red beam of light to shoot through the air and hit the charging angry Krillitane before it could get within striking distance, fell to the floor – dead.

A metal dog was proudly making its way across the cafeteria, laser out ready to fire again and Mr. Finch let out an enraged roar, truly furious at the loss of his kind.

"K-9!" Sarah Jane gasped in delight.

'Suggest you engage running mode, mistress,' K-9 beeped out.

"Come on!" the Doctor shouted, abandoning the chair he'd been holding and led them towards the doors while K-9 fired more laser beams at the Krillitanes distracting them. He flung Mickey's uninjured arm around his shoulder, supporting him and shouted, "K-9, hold them back!"

'Affirmative, master. Maximum defence mode.' K-9 remarked, and continued to start firing laser beams in all directions.

The group ran into the nearest classroom, with the Doctor ushered his companions through the doors ahead of him. He slammed the door closed behind him, pulling his sonic screwdriver from his pocket and sealed the door shut, before he turned and ran. He continued to ran and spotted one of the classroom and quickly rushing them into the room before he quickly shut the door.

"Have I told you that I love your dog?" Mickey commented, he smirked at him.

"Brilliant, isn't he?" the Doctor replied rather proudly.

"He's certainly growing on me!" Mickey exclaimed a bit breathlessly. He grimaced as he turned to look at his shoulder.

"Mickey," Sarah Jane said as she turned to him. "They got you, didn't they? Let me take a look at the injuries."

"No, I'm fine," Mickey said, frowning, clutching at his shoulder.

"It's obviously not fine, agent or not you hurt your shoulder," Sarah Jane reached out. She grabbed the first aid kid and motion Mickey to take of his jacket off, revealing the wound, hurriedly she grabbed the cotton and dabbed it with alcohol and proceed to press it into the wound which made Mickey flinched. "Sorry." She muttered, continued to dabbing the wound carefully.

"You could've used your gun to disarm them when they went to attacked Sarah Jane and Sam, but you didn't." the Doctor grinned as he pointed out. "Some things never change, you being Rickey the Idiot is one of them."

"Oi! I know your history with guns, and there's a chance they're bullet proof or somethin' and there would be no point, in nit'" Mickey shrugged. "Besides, you owe me after this."

"Right-o, I'll tell your boss to give you a raise and probably a holiday or two would be nice."

"That would be nice indeed."

Sarah Jane finished off and turned her attention to the boy instead. "How about you Sam, still feeling the effect of the oil?"

"No, it's nothing." Sam told her. He briefly brushed his hand to his head. "It felt weird thou, like there's a fuzzy feeling when you eat too much sugar."

"Well at least you're fine now," Sarah Jane said to him. "Right Doctor," She turned around to see the alien staring at them blankly. "Doctor?"

"The oil," the Time Lord muttered.

"What?"

"That's it!"

The three of them jumped in surprised as the Doctor sprung up from where he was standing, realization slowly dawning on his face. He was clearly brimming with manic energy as he slapped his forehead and pacing through the class with his hands pulling his hair.

"It's the oil!" the Doctor announced. "Krillitane life forms can't handle the oil. That's it!" He beamed excitedly and started to talk faster as he explained, "They've changed their physiology so often, even their own oil is toxic to them!" He turned to Mickey, "How much was there in the kitchens?"

"Barrels of it." He replied when suddenly they all heard screeching. They turned in alarm to see scratches on the doors as the Krillitanes were crashing against the door, their sharp caws making dents and holes on it.

"Okay, we need to get to the kitchens," the Doctor ordered. He turned around to Mickey, "Mickey, get all the children unplugged and out of the school."

Mickey nodded, understood.

"Now then," the Doctor muttered, thinking hard, "Bats, bats, bats, how do we fights bats?"

"Well, if they're like normal bats," Sam trailed as he stomped over to the fire alarm and confidently slammed his elbow onto it. A high-pitched thrilling sound of a fire alarm heard around the school as it followed by the Krillitanes winched and quailed at the shrill sound, clearly assaulting their sensitive ears, shrieking in pain now.

The Doctor smiled gleefully and beamed a grin at the boy, as Mickey ruffled Sam's head, with that he turned for the door and throwing it open, as they all hurried past the incapacitated Krillitanes and down the corridor.

'Master'. K-9 voiced came from behind.

"Come on, boy," the Doctor encouraged, leading the dog along with them. "Good boy."

Once they got out, they scattered. Mickey hurriedly went to the kids, while the others ran into the kitchen, hoping they would get in there before the alarm stop. They made it before the Krillitanes did, and just in time as the alarm stopped abruptly, with that the Doctor knew it would only be moments before they would after them once again. He desperately sprinted over the barrels of oil and sonic it while Sam and Sarah Jane slammed the kitchen door shut.

"They've been deadlock sealed!" the Doctor growled and ran to another trying again only to find the same thing, "Finch must have done this. I can't open them."

'The vats would not withstand a direct hit from laser,' K-9 remarked drawing the eyes in the room, 'But my batteries are failing.'

The Doctor stared at K-9 for a moment, then nodded briskly. "Right, everyone gets out the back door. K-9, stay with me."

Sarah Jane and Sam moved for the back door. She noticed the boy turned back at the door, "Sam, come on! He'll be alright."

"I just wanted to say thanks, for the save earlier K-9," Sam murmured, giving the robotic dog head a pat.

K-9 tail wagged, 'You're very welcome.'

The boy gaze met the Doctor's for a moment as he crouched down in front of K-9, he gave him a brief smile and he returned it softly. He nodded for the door and Sam moved for it, joining Sarah Jane who'd waited for him, the two breaking into a run.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You are at the end of story.
> 
> It's almost done, since I've got one or two more. Not sure yet.
> 
> I wanna thanks everyone who keep on reading this story, even thou I updated it a bit slower now. I wanna thanks kudos I got.
> 
> Please gives a kudos and review it.
> 
> Every review will add another life to a story. Any story.
> 
> Thank You!


	39. Goodbye Old Friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything except for my original character. But that's it. I wish someday I would. Maybe, possibly. Who knows?
> 
> A/N: Hello dear readers, this is going to be almost finished. I have a lot to say for this and I may or may not give it a but of a rush. So, if there's any mistake or if it's a bit boring. Well, yeah you know why. I do feel sorry and maybe if there's time, I would do it but for now, please enjoy this messy chapter.

Mickey frowned in frustration, feeling rather helpless as he worked at the main computer, trying to stop the code. But nothing was working as it should be, it should have been easy to turn the blasted thing off, yet it was as if it was frozen except the code continued to roll, the program continued to run and the children continued to work at their individual computers completely unresponsive.

He gazed around the room, thinking this is not the time he would fail, and he didn't want to fail this, he really didn't; this was critical and he knew the Doctor natured of a plan would ended up the Time Lord blowing up something. His eyes landed on a thick yellow and black cable that was running across the ceiling until it reached a single power socket in the wall, too easy way too easy; he hesitated for a moment and afraid something bad would happened if he pulled it out.

But he doesn't have much choice at the moment. He leapt out of the chair and raced over to it, yanking it free of the wall, the socket sparked and crackled as the computers switched off. The children blinked a bit confused, as if they were suddenly yanked out of their trance state, clearly do not understand what was going on.

"Everyone get out, now!" Mickey shouted and there was a flurry of movement as the students leapt to their feet at the urgency in his tone, "Come on, move! Let's go! Let's go!" He shouted as he urged, hurried them out of the room. "I need the team to moved exactly outside the school, I've got a bunch of children with me."

'Got it Smith.'

He yanked the front door opened, letting the children pouring outside quickly, and found Sarah Jane stood there besides Sam, but the Doctor was nowhere to found.

0o0

'Capacity for only one shot master,' K-9 suddenly piped up. 'For maximum impact, I must be stationed directly beside the vat.'

The Doctor paused, he had been hauling the barrel into position, having grouped them together for K-9 to shoot at. He rushed over the dog. "But you'll be trapped inside," he protested, crouched down to stare at the dog.

'That is correct.'

"I can't let you do that."

'No alternative possible, Master.'

The Doctor stared at K-9 sadly, the shrill screeching of the Krillitanes came from close by and he looked over his shoulder, knowing they were nearby. His hearts sinking as he turned back to his faithful friend, his eyes were glassy, knowing there really wasn't any other alternative in that moment, "Goodbye, old friend," he said, his voiced grew heavy as he placed a hand on K-9.

'Goodbye, Master,'

"You're a good dog," the Doctor praised as he patted the top of K-9's head. He smiled, the curve of his lips tinged with sadness.

K-9 waggled his tail and ears enthusiastically, 'Affirmative.'

The Time Lord stayed a moment longer, his hand resting atop K-9's head before finally he turned and dashed over to the doors, pulling his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket as K-9 trundled over to the barrels of oil, assume his position. The Doctor hurried out the back doors, slamming them shut behind him. He locked them with a quick buzz from his sonic as he turned around to see Sarah Jane standing there with Sam and the other children.

"Where's K-9?" she asked, not seeing her dog with him.

"We need to run," the Doctor told her as he ran towards them.

Sarah Jane didn't move as she stared at him stubbornly, "Where is he? What have you done!?" she demanded to know, her voice rising with urgency.

They all ran desperately, trying to put as much distance between them and the kitchens as possible. The Doctor grasped Sarah Jane's hand as Sam ran right behind him. They'd rushed out into the front yard just in time when the kitchen blew up, the glass shattering as the flames licked the sides. He silently watched as UNIT agent quickly swarmed the school and took the children safely and turned to face Sarah Jane, who was staring at the flames.

"I'm sorry."

"It's alright," Sarah Jane shook her head tears pricking hotly at the back of her eyes. "He was just a daft metal dog. It's fine really," She sniffled and then burst into tears unable to hold them back and the Doctor hugged her, trying to comfort her as best he could.

0o0

"You've finished K-9."

He looked up, brainy specs sitting low on his nose, blinking a bit to see Sam Piper standing by the console, grinning at him. He shrugged, standing up from where he was sitting. "Yup! It was not easy, there were a few parts the TARDIS hid from be," the Doctor told him. He looked up and glared briefly at the console. "But I managed."

"Sarah Jane would be so happy about this."

The Doctor cracked a smile. "Well I should hope so, he's a good dog," he said, patting the dog on the side.

"Affirmative." Sam joked and they laughed.

After the event with the school the Doctor decided to stay for a while for accompanying Sarah Jane, and even he admit this was one of his greatest idea he had, taking a break from saving the universe. He never had this sort of break, the universe never gave him a break; and it was nice just having tea with Sarah Jane. She, of course was kind enough to take him in, and for a thank you present, he made another K-9 for her. He hadn't told her yet; it was supposed to be a surprise departure.

"When will you give it to her?" Sam asked.

"I'll set him outside in the morning, beside it's coming along great and it should have been fixed up and ready to go by morning," the Doctor told him. He turned back to his work. "If I work through the night."

Sam moved towards him, he sat himself near him cross-legged on top of the grated floor as the Doctor followed his progress through the corner of his eyes, pretending not to notice. His mind wondered while he tinkers, if there were probability of the boy wanting to travel with him again. Even he had to admit, traveling alone become a bit lonely sometimes, and there are times he tried to have a companion with him but it hasn't been a smooth sailing for him, and he hated to admit it that everyone was right, Rose was right, he was rubbish on travelling alone.

"Sam. I need to ask you about something."

The boy turned towards him, looking at him with those huge doe eyes that made the Doctor hearts clenched in pain. What was he thinking? Wanting to endangered the boy again, just because he was lonely; he is a hundred years old, surely he could handle being alone for so long. No, he can't let anyone got hurt again with his little adventure.

"What is it?" Sam asked.

"Do you want to help me for a bit?" the Doctor offered softly.

"Really?" Sam smiled excitedly.

"Yeah, I could use the extra hands." the Doctor told him. He pulled a wired and handed it to him. "Here, hold the two wires together."

The boy obligated eagerly as he sonic the wires together. The Doctor stared at the boy and smiled softly at him, he loves the look of the boy concentrating on the wires as if he understands what it was for. They did this for a bit, the Doctor telling him to hold this and do that, as the boy keep happily obliging. He never done tinkering with someone inside the TARDIS since the time war; there are other companion but he was too pompous and always told them how they don't need their help to fix his magic time machine and how to much complicated it was. But there was something else, another feeling that he tried not to reminded himself; how tinkering with the TARDIS reminded him tinkering with-.

'No.' the Time Lord told himself. 'Just don't'.

0o0

A few hours later, the Doctor had relocated the TARDIS to a park a few blocks down from the house. Sarah Jane walked up just as the Doctor exited, followed with Sam behind him, grinning at her. Sarah Jane had told them that she would meet them there, wanting to take the time to compose herself after these few days of adventure.

"Cup of tea?" the Doctor offered her, before stepping aside to let her move past him and through the door of the TARDIS.

Sarah Jane gasped as she gazed about the interior of the console room, gaping in awe as the Doctor stepped inside after her, shutting the door behind him, "You've redecorated," she exclaimed turning to him.

"Do you like it?" he asked cheerily smiling at her reaction.

"Oh, I, I do. Yeah," she replied as she looked around at the console room that had changed so much since she'd last been inside the wondrous blue box, "She hasn't changed a bit, not in the ways that matter, at least."

"She's amazing." Sam said happily.

"Are you going to stay with him?" Sarah Jane asked, pulling Sam's attention away for a moment.

"Oh. No." Sam told her. "It was fun while it last but I've had enough travelling. Besides, I still have school, even with the little extra holiday."

_'I also, don't want to be a burden'_

The Doctor winched internally. "Sorry about that, I'm sure it's fine and UNIT is helping with the repairmen so it'll probably took a few weeks."

"Or month." Sam muttered, a bit hopeful about it.

Sarah Jane smiled up at him, giving him a quick tight hug. "You're a clever and kind boy Sam, more than a match for him."

"You and me both," Sam replied, returning the hug. He looked over at the Doctor, who was fiddling at the console. "I better wait outside, you're still giving me that ride, right Sarah Jane?"

"Of course."

He smiled and proceed to waited outside of the time machine.

"Doctor…?"

"Hmm?" he asked, looking up.

"You're going to travel alone?"

"It's better that way."

Sarah Jane nodded thoughtfully as she took a step towards her old friend, "Oh, my old friend." She held out her hand and placed it to his side. "You of all people should know, that some things are worth getting your heart broken for, so please don't travel alone."

"Then you should come with me, for old time sake," the Doctor suggested. A warm, surprised smiled appeared on Sarah Jane's face, and the Time Lord thought for a moment that she was going to come, but eventually she shook her head.

"No," she paused. "I can't do this anymore. Besides, I've got a much bigger adventure ahead. Time I stopped waiting for you and found a life on my own. After all, there's plenty of aliens on Earth."

He nodded at her, gave her a sweet bitter smiled as she gave him a quick peck on his cheek and proceed to walked outside from the time machine. The Doctor stood there as the door closed, turning around and pressing the button, preparing to go on another adventure until he freezes while his hand reached towards the lever; an uneasy feeling run through him. He looked back towards the door and decided on the last minute to run through the grating floor and found he was outside looking at Sarah Jane and Sam walking back towards her car.

"Wait!"

The two stopped and looked back to find the alien were walking towards them, completely confused on what's going on.

"What's going on?" Sarah Jane asked him.

"I forgot to give you something," the Doctor said. He turned back towards them as he grabbed something from his pocket and giving it to them.

"A phone?"

"Yes. A super-phone if you wanna called it," he explained, "It has a direct line towards the TARDIS phone so if you have an alien problem you can't explain or needs my help, you can reach me with the phone."

"Alright, thanks Doctor." Sam said to him as he waved his phone towards him. "I'll be sure to call if there any problem."

"You better be Sam Piper, you're a bit jeopardy friendly so I expected the call would come from you," the Doctor said, giving him a cheeky grin.

He rolled his eyes fondly as he got inside the car.

"It's daft, but I haven't ever thanked you for that time," Sarah Jane told the Doctor as they stepped outside. "And like I said – I wouldn't have missed it for the world."

"Something to tell the grandkids," the Doctor said with a smile.

"Oh, I think it'll be someone else's grandkids now."

"Right," the Doctor trailed off awkwardly, "Yes sorry. I didn't get the chance to ask. You haven't, there hasn't been anyone, you know?"

"Well there was this one guy. I travelled with him for a while, but he was a tough act to follow," Sarah Jane said slowly, studying him with a strange expression on her face. "Yet underneath that, he has a soft spot. That's why he gave Sam the phone."

"Sarah Jane –" he started, quick to assure her that he was indeed wanted to give the phone to them but she interrupted him quickly.

"He told me about you, how you lost someone you loved," Sarah Jane said softly. "And since he's not going to travel with you, I'm worried you'll shut people out, thinking it's best to be alone, which you should never be."

The Doctor swallowed hard, staying quite for a moment.

"Oh, Doctor," Sarah Jane said sadly, realizing instantly how difficult for him to care so much yet lost as much too. "What are you going to do?"

"I don't know," he said, scratching the back of his head uncomfortably.

Sarah watched him closely for another moment, then said. "You know Doctor, those days traveling with you, I know that some things are worth getting your heart broken for."

"Yeah?" he asked, meeting her gaze with his head still bowed.

"Yeah," she said with a small smile. "Goodbye, Doctor."

"Oh, it's not goodbye –"

"Say it, please. This time. Say it."

"Goodbye," the Doctor murmured then give her a beamed smile. "My Sarah Jane," He pulled her into a tight hug, lifting her off the ground for a moment, before setting her back down.

Sarah Jane watched him step into the TARDIS. She turned to walk away as the TARDIS began to dematerialize from the park, only to pause and turn back to see it blink out of sight. Her eyes widened in surprise at the sight of a small robotic dog standing there, tail wagging.

"K-9!" Sarah Jane exclaimed, clearly delighted to see her old friend.


	40. End of the Decision

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything that related to Doctor Who, everything own by the BBC. I just own my original character which is Mr. Sam Piper
> 
> A/N: Wow, just wow. Here we are at last, the end of the story. ALSO YOU GUYS! THIS IS MY FIRST COMPLETE STORY! I FINISH THIS! AND NOT JUST LEFT IT IN THE DUST! AND I AM PROUD OF IT!
> 
> OH MY GOD!
> 
> I have no words for this, seriously. Just go on. This is gonna be a small finishing chapter and will gives a lot of hints for the sequel.
> 
> Sequel?
> 
> SEQUEL!?
> 
> Of course I will give this a sequel! Hello! I got a lot of plans for this story , but you have to wait for like a few months for the sequel because I am going through a lot right now and need to prepare for a lot of things.
> 
> Anyway! Enjoy this little story.

Travelling alone.

That what he seemed to good at now, and this would be his best decision in his entire life. The universe loved to takes those who are important to him, signaling the need for him to be alone yet he always ignored it, until now of course. Besides, travelling alone give him less pressure of showing off to his companion, travelling alone means he could be as reckless as he always be, traveling alone means he doesn't need to lose those he loves.

And this would be his final decision.

The Doctor stood there for a moment thinking about this in his brain, reviewing it every single seconds he stood there looking at the console. He looked around the room and found he was alone, just as he should be. Smiling a bitter smiled, he ran around the console, pressing button and adjusting to his next destination, and finally he holds the final lever and quickly pulling it down, making the TARDIS dematerialize, taking him to his next adventure.

"Allons-y!"

0o0

A golden hair woman, hiding away and staring at the Doctor who hesitated for a moment in front of the time machine. She saw the Time Lord finally entered the TARDIS, and something in her heart ache, she wanted to go and dragged him out from this mess; telling the universe to stop messing with him, shielding him from the truth. But she, of all people, knows that's not how it works; she can't even touch him and it hurts her so much that she can't. She felt like a ghost, and all she could do is to watch the Last Time Lord, traveling alone which he should never ever done. She sighed, and finally closing her eyes as she heard the sound of the TARDIS taking off, slowly opening her eyes; a tingle of gold lingered in her eyes. A lot needs to change, a lot she needs to alter, and a lot she needs to intervene.

A wolfish smiled came from her.

"A storm is coming."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO!
> 
> And that's all folks.
> 
> What's that last thing? Oh, it's nothing and not important so please don't focus on that, and please don't think of anything about someone special coming back and it would easy for everything coming to normal and loving again, please don't. Because everything will get a bit harder for them.
> 
> Everything won't ever be the same.
> 
> Thank you to each and every person who read, gives kudos, and bookmark this story. I honestly could not have done this without you guys.
> 
> However, the updates won't start until AFTER I'm ready. Sorry, but I do need a break.
> 
> Anyway, thank you once again for being with me on this journey. I absolutely love you all


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